


Blazing thunder

by WinteryFall



Series: Elementals [1]
Category: Bleach
Genre: AU, Action, Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood and Violence, Cop ichigo, Elemental Magic, Elements, Extreme Pain, Grimmjow is a scary bastard, Ichigo crushes for a bad boy, Ichigo is in a wheelchair, Leg massages, M/M, Nausea, Near Death Experiences, Paralysis, Plot Twists, Severe Depression, Sickness, Suicidal Thoughts, Terminal Illnesses, Which is a bad idea, deadly condition, injured ichigo, serious injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-24 07:36:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 48,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12008082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinteryFall/pseuds/WinteryFall
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki, a skilled young elemental-officer in the Seireitei Guard is badly injured during a bombing attack to their headquarters, while chasing down a highly dangerous suspect.Bound to a wheelchair, he eventually finds himself stuck with this said suspect, who forces Ichigo to help him hide from those after him. Unfortunately for Ichigo, this ends up being potentially even worse idea than he initially though, as the rogue elemental starts growing on him, and fast.





	1. The Bombing

**Author's Note:**

> Sooo. I still have that other bleach fic in the making, but this idea came to my head and I just HAD to start making it.
> 
> I especially felt the need to do this after I felt that in my other fic, Grimmjow was becoming too nice. I mean, he's SUPPOSED to be bit of a dick.  
> Being a dick is like his profession.  
> He should get paid for it, he's that good at fucking with people.  
> He's a pro asshole, and that's honestly what I love about his character, its kind of fun in a weird way.  
> So, in this fic, I decided to try and make him more Grimmjow-ish.  
> I also am kind of proud of this first chapter, as fight scenes are SUPER tricky for me to write, and this came out pretty decent for my standards. 
> 
> More tags will be added as the story progresses

_The whole site was in chaos._

_There were clouds of dust everywhere, debris falling down, sparkles coming out from severed wires._

_He couldn’t move; there was a giant slab of concrete on top of his lower body, crushing his legs under it. Ichigo felt his vision blur, as the pain began to be too much for his brain to handle. They should’ve known. There were distant sounds around him, sirens, people yelling, complete, and utter chaos. The young man tries to move, but his efforts to do so cause a sharp wave of pain travel down his body, and Ichigo slumps back against the ground, staring at his hand beside his face. It was covered in blood and soot. None of them had expected this, the bombing, the collapse._

_Sure, they’d known that the man in their captivity was wanted by the bad guys, but not Ichigo, nor anybody else, expected them to bomb the whole station in an attempt to kill just one man._

_Ichigo was not sure which it spoke of more; the desperation of the perpetrator, or the lethality of the target._

_Perhaps both._

_There were footsteps, heading his way. Ichigo felt his skin prickle, heard the sound of crackling in the air. He knew who it was, but the man could not do anything to protect himself. He could not even summon a tiny flicker of a blaze into his hand, his body was too damaged._

 

 

It had been a relatively normal, if hectic, week on the Seireitei City Guard.

People were busy, each dealing with their own jobs, be it handling regular cases or the advanced level ones, training new elementals and such. Ichigo had been waiting in front of their chief’s office for his co-worker and a friend, as the head chief had assigned him to help her with this particular case.

Eventually, the short, black haired woman walks out of the room, face in a frown; she’d just finished her briefing to the situation. Ichigo was supposed to have been there too, but he’d gotten stuck on the way, helping a woman who’d been threatened by a gang of men.

Even if those three weren’t elementals, it was still dangerous in this city.

Powers or not, humans were exceptionally good at fucking each other’s over. Ichigo had learned this the hard way when he was a kid.

”Hard one, huh?”

”Where were you?” The woman demands, but then holds her hand up as Ichigo opens his mouth to explain.

”No, on second thought it doesn’t matter. I can just explain what we are up against.” She leads him to her office, closing the door and sitting down behind her table.

Rukia was an ice-elemental, so the places she occupied often felt cold.

Ichigo did not mind it too much, given how his own fire-type negated its effects most of the time. He sits down on to a chair, then almost slips off it, noting the surface was covered in a thin layer of ice. The woman grimaces and looks at him apologetically; Rukia was still not fully in control of her powers, causing them to manifest passively and at random. Ichigo just shakes his head and closes his eyes, raising his body heat enough to melt the ice.

”The news I got is not good; Aizen’s men managed to take down quite a few of our agents and he got away.”

Ichigo frowns, not liking this one bit; Seireitei had been trying to capture the megalomaniac light-elemental for years now, and last month they’d gotten so close. Unfortunately, Aizen was slippery and always seemed to escape their clutches. It did not help that he had plenty of metahuman-level elementals under his wing.

Dealing with a middle-class type was already difficult, but metahuman was a whole another ballgame.

Amongst their ranks in Seireitei Guard, only the head-chief and his two closest men, Ukitake - the one Rukia and Ichigo worked under - and Kyoraku were of this level, and one of three was sick, while two others were old and therefore not as strong as they used to be.

Majority of officers - like Ichigo himself - were middle-class.

Powerful enough to create their own element, not just control it like the weakest type, but not strong enough to literally _become_ their own element.

”So, did he have any leads on this?”

”He did. Apparently there has been fallout on Aizen’s rank. One of his strongest metahuman elementals jumped ship, and we are trying to find him.”

That sounded good; perhaps this jumper could provide them with information.

However, Rukia’s expression made it clear it wouldn’t be that easy. Ichigo just lifts eyebrow, waiting for her to continue. ”The problem is...we do not know where he escaped to. It seems Aizen wants him dead so finding him will be extremely difficult.”

It made sense, any leaper would have volatile info in their hands about Aizen, so it was only natural he’d want the person buried.

”Another one is...we do not actually know his type.”

Ichigo lifts eyebrow; it was highly unusual for them to not have any information on what kind of elemental they were dealing with, especially somebody on a metahuman level, given how rare these folks were. ”But if you know the guy’s name, you have to have some sort of record on the stuff he’s done for Aizen.”

Rukia nods a bit crossing her fingers and looking at Ichigo from behind them with a frown.

”That is the problem. Nobody who’s been his target has lived to tell the tale. In a lot of cases, the bodies were not found, aside from some ashes.”

Okay, that sounded a bit terrifying.

”Wouldn’t that be a hint? Ashes could hint at a fire type...”

Rukia shakes her head with a sigh. ”There was barely any typical damage that could’ve been created by a fire-elemental on the sites, aside from the very spot the person had been in. The cases where there was a body, we could not spot fire-damage at all. It was almost if they’d just suddenly had a stroke and died.”

Ichigo frowns at that; it sounded highly unusual. Being a fire user, he knew that avoiding collateral damage was tricky; you had to be highly in control of your power to direct the flames in such precise manner.

”So...how are we gonna find this guy and capture him if we don’t even know what he looks like, nor what his powers are?”

”We do have a name and a face, but that is all.”

Ichigo looks curiously, as Rukia pulls out a file, and pushes it to Ichigo. The young man opens it, and the first thing he spots is the lighter, sky blue hair, accompanied with eyes so intense and blue it felt like they were made of liquid lightning.

”Grimmjow...Jeager...jaquez? Gods that’s a mouthful.” Rukia hums, nodding a bit. It was not the strangest name she’d ran into while looking through the files about Aizen’s metahumans, but it was definitely up there. Then again, most of them were from Hueco Mundo, a notorious city west from Seireitei. A lot of folk there had unusual names, at least in their eyes.

Ichigo scrolls trough the files, and indeed, aside from a few photos, a name, approx. Age and suspected crimes, there was nothing else on the man. He was a mystery.

”Any idea why he left their ranks?”

”Not exactly. Our informant apparently did not know the details. She did warn us to be extremely careful when dealing with him.”

Ichigo frowns at that. ”Does she know what his power is?”

Rukia shrugs, taking the file back from Ichigo.

”If she does, she is not willing to tell us. Be it fear towards Jeagerjaquez, or some sort of code, but she refuses to tell anything regarding to this. My money would be on some sort of trauma though, given how she tensed when asked about this.”

Ichigo hums, glancing at the photo peeking out from the file pile. This case could be incredibly dangerous; sure he and Rukia were amongst the strongest younger generation elemental members, but not knowing your target was always a bad sign. It usually meant trouble. Ichigo takes the photo out from the files to examine it more closely. The man was wearing a white hooded jacket with black inner layering, his face partially shadowed by the said hood.

His hands were in his pockets, and he was glancing at the camera with admittedly freaky grin, as if he’d known someone was photographing him in secret and mugged at the camera.

”The officer who took that photo died a moments later it was taken; all we found was his charred clothes and the camera.”

Rukia comments solemnly and suddenly the grin on the man’s face had a whole different meaning to it. Ichigo swallows down, but keeps his nerves in check.

”Is it really a good idea to go after this particular one, though? He sounds extremely dangerous.”

”The fact he’s turned his back to Aizen for one reason or another means we might be able to negotiate with him.”

Ichigo could tell from Rukia’s tone and look in her face that she was about as skeptic about this as he was.

Either way, they got no choice.

 

 

_Ichigo coughs, the dust settling in his lungs, irritating his already damaged breath. A hand yanks the stuff off from him, throwing it aside with such ferocity that it made the person’s. Intentions clear. He tries to look up, but his vision is so blurry and covered in soot and blood, that all he could make out was the blue eyes peering down at him._

_He was dead meat that was for sure._

_Again, the young man tries to ignite his flames, but a foot lands on his hand, evaporating the tiny flicker in instant and driving sand further into the small cuts on his palm._

_It hurt so much, and Ichigo bit his lip to not voice out the pain he felt._

 

 

It took them two weeks to track down the man.

He’d been found at the dirtier, darker parts of Hueco Mundo; even that shithole had its seriously dark parts, and that’s where the guy had been hiding. When he’d noticed the agents coming for him, the man had sprinted away, though he’d eventually been captured by Rukia’s ice ability, encasing him into a chilly prison. He’d been brought to the station where the icy restraint had been melted and replaced with cuffs that neutralized majority of element types, given they had no clue what his was.

Currently, the man sat in an interrogation room, picking his ear looking bored and annoyed at the cuffs chaining him to the chair.

Ichigo was standing in the other room, viewing the man trough the mirror window. It was clear this man used to be one of Aizen’s top ranks; even without knowing his element type, Jeagerjaquez’ physique was impressive, and judging by the way he sprinted off, the man had near cat-like reflexes.

He was also bit of a looker, but this observation was something Ichigo would keep for himself.

”He refuses to talk.” Rukia informs him once she steps in to the room, letting out a slow sigh.

Rukia had spent last thirty minutes interrogating - or attempting, anyway - the man with Renji, a fellow officer and a friend. His element was trees, allowing the man to control and grow them wherever he wanted, or make very pointy and sharp weapons from them.

”Well, none of us should’ve expected it to be easy.”

Rukia sighs with a nod, turning to stare at the man in the other room with a frown.

”It’s...strange. Somebody of his level should have been able to easily escape my ice-trap, if I am honest.”

”So...you think he wanted to get caught?”

Rukia nods, holding her chin thoughtfully. ”It is not unheard of, having his former subordinates get caught on purpose so they can escape. Jeagerjaquez doesn’t fit to this theory however, given he’s refused to say anything.”

Ichigo frowns too now, not liking the situation one bit; it could be a trap.

He turns to look at the man again, who was now rubbing his neck, yawning so that one could see his sharp canines. It was freaky, Ichigo had seen plenty of Aizen’s minions already, but none of his rank, and the difference was clear.

The confidence alone the man oozed despite being trapped was off-putting.

Suddenly, the sharp blue eyes focus on Ichigo, and despite knowing that the window looked like a mirror on the other side, it felt like the man was looking straight at him.

”We may have to ask somebody else to try and talk to him. Intimidation tactics won’t work though, that’s for sure so we can forget about Zaraki.”

”I’m pretty sure even if they did work he’d be dead before we got any info out of him.”

Rukia hums with a light smile; Ichigo had a point there.

As the orange haired male turns his attention back at their captured foe, he realizes the man was still staring towards him.

Suddenly, a smirk spreads across his face, and the man lifts his hand, signing something. Sign-language was one of the many things taught to them by the Guard academy, so Ichigo could read it. His blood ran cold for a second.

 

_I can see you._

 

As Ichigo backs away a bit, surprised by what he saw, Rukia glances at him confused.

”What’s wrong Ichigo?”

The orange haired male swallows down and shakes his head, informing her with a smile that it was nothing. He could still feel the man stare at him with that viciously freaky grin. In the end, Rukia decides to try and talk to the man again, noting that she was still the best option available, plus she did not like failing her tasks. Normally Rukia was able to crack even the hardest of cases, but this man blatantly ignored her, going as far as yawning at her face.

Despite not saying a word, Ichigo had already gathered quite a few things about their mystery capture; he was oozing confidence, a clear indication of either strength or reckless overestimation of one’s skill - latter was less likely given who the man used to work with and what his rank was - and did not have much respect for authority, which probably had played a part on his separation from Aizen.

He was also rude as fuck, dodging Rukia’s questions with statements like ’blow me,’ or ’fuck off.’

Seeing that kind of behavior infuriated Ichigo, but he was not exactly an expert on dealing with this part of the job. He was a field agent, not an interrogator. ”You do understand that refusing to cooperate won’t exactly help your position, Jeagerjaquez.” Rukia tells him calmly, and Ichigo was still really baffled at how she managed to remain so calm despite the man’s insulting remarks.

Grimmjow just snorts, giving her one of those creepy ass predator grins.

”I ain’t deaf, shortie. I just got no interest in talkin’ to ya. You ain’t my type.”

Rukia lifts eyebrow at that and even Ichigo leans a bit closer to the glass arms still crossed, wondering what the hell the man meant. ”C’mon. I know yer pretty-boy buddy is watching us. Call ’im in and maybe this’ll be less boring.” The blue eyes zero in on Ichigo again, and the young man backs away, unnerved.

Even Rukia glances towards him with a frown; how could Jeagerjaquez see Ichigo, when all she saw was her own reflection?

Perhaps it was a hint towards his abilities.

After a moment of hesitation, Ichigo steps out and enters the room with Rukia, who gives him a disapproving frown. Ichigo could understand why, complying with the man’s request of sorts was not necessarily smart, but if it could get him talking...

”How did you see me?” He had to ask, it was probably dumb, but he just had to.

Grimmjow just examines him with a look reminiscent of that in the photo taken by somebody moments before their death. It spoke of a level of predatory bloodlust, which quite frankly, was the freakiest thing Ichigo had seen in a while. He keeps his gaze even however, refusing to show his fear.

”Got sharp eyes. Then again, that kinda mug stands out pretty easy, especially in Hueco Mundo. Saw yer pretty face next ta this woman back there, so figured you’d be around too.”

Ichigo had no clue how to react to that statement, so he just sits down beside Rukia, in front of the man who was examining him with an amused smirk dancing on his lips.

”So, now I am here. You got anything to say other than complain about my face?”

The man barks out a laugh, it had a mad tint to it which makes both Rukia and Ichigo shift uneasily.

”Wasn’t complainin’.” He eventually comments, flashing a grin at Ichigo.

This was probably a bad idea, trying to get anything out of this guy, but right now they had no choice, as the boss expected to get some info extracted out of this guy.

”Alright, so, I suppose Rukia already told you why you are here.” The man snorts, tilting his head and looking at Ichigo like he was a brainless idiot.

”Yeah yeah, just because I ditched Aizen’s crazy ass, you guys seem to think I wanna help out.”

”Previous subordinates have been more cooperative.” Rukia comments neutrally, and the man rolls his eyes, digging his ear bored again.

”Previous bastards you guys ’caught’ were weaklings. I can deal with Aizen’s shitty assassins.”

”Then why did you get caught?” Ichigo asks, and the blue eyes focus on him now.

”I agree with my partner; her ice-trap in all likeness should not have been enough to trap somebody of your level. You got caught on purpose, why?” Ichigo questions the man, trying not to show how nervous the predatory stare was making him.

”Wanted ta see that pretty mug up close.” Grimmjow comments casually; he was clearly just fucking around with them given his lazy grin.

 

Ichigo wanted to punch the smug bastard before already, but now the feeling intensified. He held it in however, knowing that punching a suspect would not exactly be appropriate. Plus, they still did not know what his element was.

”You might want to start being serious; you’ve been suspected from a lot of murders, and if you don’t start talking, you’ll may end up facing the death penalty.” Rukia informs the man, who just snorts, looking unimpressed.

”The second Aizen’s got his claws on you, yer a dead man anyway.”

Grimmjow doesn’t give them much time to ponder on this strange sentence, as he soon continues, looking at Ichigo again with that unnerving gaze.

”Mind ta ditch the shortie? M’ gettin’ tired having ta look down just to hear her.”

Rukia’s face twitched angrily, and it was clear her usually stone-cold composure was failing. Ichigo grasps her shoulder however, giving her a look. She lifts eyebrow, as if to ask whenever he was sure about doing this, but after a moment she gets up and leaves the room, surely watching them through the mirror. Once the door closes, Ichigo was left alone in the room with Grimmjow, and he suddenly began to feel nervous; his skin was prickling unpleasantly, and the man’s intense focus on him did not help one bit.

”Now why the fuck is a baby-face like you part of the Guard? You don’t look that strong.”

”Looks can often be misleading.” Ichigo states simply, not taking the bait. The man was clearly trying to look for a way to rile him up, but Ichigo was not gonna let him do it.

”Elemental?”

Ichigo pauses, contemplating it. There was no point in hiding it really, so he lifts his hand and summons a small flame to his hand.

”So is that why yer hair is eye-rapingly orange?”

Ichigo ignores the insult and turns the flame off by closing his palm, and drops his hand to the table, looking at Grimmjow with a frown.

”So many people are dead because of you, yet we still don’t know what your power is.”

Grimmjow just hums, shrugging.

”Not my fault.”

”What Rukia said stands by the way; if you want to live, you should start talking.”

Grimmjow lets out another one of those mad cackles, and then actually leans closer, making Ichigo back away slightly.

”And I told ya: once Aizen got his hands on you, yer dead meat.”

The blue eyes burned right through Ichigo’s skull, and Ichigo began to get the feeling that they were indeed dealing with something highly dangerous, not just because they did not know what his powers were.

He looked like a man with nothing left to lose.

”If that is true, why did you bother getting caught? I doubt you allowed this to happen for no reason.”

The man leans back, allowing Ichigo to breathe a little easier for a moment. His sixth sense was warning Ichigo that there was something off about this situation. Grimmjow remains silent, just examines him quietly for a moment, that same, almost taunting smirk on his lips. Finally, he leans closer again, resting his arms on top of the table.

”We came ta look fer someone.”

”We?” Ichigo questions, and then suddenly realizes something.

His element-negating cuffs were off.

There was a small burn around the area they locked from.

Before Ichigo could react, the entire room goes pitch black, as there is a sudden electric break.

”What the...?”

A crackle, a blue flash, and next thing he knows is a bolt of light hitting him, burning his front and throwing him straight through the mirror window. Ichigo stumbles to the floor there, covered in bleeding cuts and bruises from the glass, but the biggest and most obvious injury was the scorch-mark on his chest. Rukia stares at Ichigo, and then holds up her gun as the man casually walks towards them, hopping in from the broken window.

Looking up, the orange haired male could see...blue lights, electric sparks, swirling around the man, appearing and disappearing so fast it was hard to keep up.

”You’re...a lighting type?”

Rukia asks her eyes wide and voice slightly shaken; Ichigo did not blame her for that reaction.

Lightning elementals, especially on meta-human level, were incredibly rare.

In fact, majority of people thought they’d died out completely; only lightning users left were middle-class or the weakest.

Grimmjow just spreads his arms dramatically, as if in a show, and grins at them.

”Too bad yer toys don’t negate this much electricity, huh?”

Before Rukia could even begin summoning an ice shield to cover them, the man grabs her head and sends a violent shock through her system, rendering the woman paralyzed.

”Rukia!” Ichigo scrambles up, summoning a larger ball of flame to his hand, but Grimmjow is too fast for him, swiftly kicking him in the chest giving him another shock that sends the teen hurling against the wall, coughing out blood as he slips to the ground. Had they not been elementals, both Rukia and he would’ve died from those attacks.

Elementals can withstand strikes from their fellow kindred better than normal humans, after all.

”Was nice chatting with ya candle-kiddo, but I gotta go.”

Ichigo pulls out his gun, but it was too late as the man had already kicked the door in - and destroyed part of the wall in the process with his lightning - disappearing into the confines of the completely darkened building.

Ichigo scrambles towards Rukia, and is glad to find she’s still breathing. His body was still shaking and twitching from the shock given to him, but he manages to grab the comlink phone on Rukia’s belt; they worked without external power-source, so people would hear about the escape even if the power was shut off.

”Everyone, this is Kurosaki Ichigo calling from the third floor interrogation room; the prisoner has escaped, elemental, lightning type, highly dangerous!”

As Rukia makes out a pained noise, Ichigo turns his attention back to her.

The shock given to her was clearly worse - or his stamina was better, Ichigo wasn’t sure - as she still couldn’t get up. Instead, the woman grasps his sleeve, giving Ichigo an ordering stare. ”Go after him; your fire should work fairly well against lightning. Warn people as we cannot be sure they all...they all have their communicators on.” Ichigo hesitates at first, but as Rukia tugs on his sleeve insistently, the man nods and gets up. Rukia would be fine; he could already hear familiar voices heading their way.

He had to find Jeagerjaquez before things would turn out worse.

Ichigo stumbles out of the door just as Renji arrives there, stopping and staring at the large burn on his chest: Where Grimmjow had hit him, Ichigo’s uniform was burned through and his skin looked badly maimed. ”Rukia needs more help than me, go to her!” Ichigo tells the man, gesturing towards the room he’d come from, before heading at the direction Grimmjow had gone. The timing of this situation was bad, given their head-chiefs were away visiting another city right now, they’d gone there just this morning.

Ichigo had a feeling the man and whoever his accomplishes were, had known this and timed their operation accordingly.

They’d likely also been the ones to turn off the power, or Grimmjow may have done that himself somehow, if his element really was what it seemed to be. Either way, Ichigo had to find the bastard before more people would be badly hurt; lightning metahuman was not something to be taken lightly.

There was a reason why Lightning was not something you often saw metahuman-elementals have in their possession: given the unstable nature of the element, maintaining it in a way the highest level demanded was extremely difficult, and usually would burn the user out – literally – in a matter of minutes. Yet, it was clear from just those few hits, and what was in the files, that Grimmjow controlled his power as easily as he breathed, which made him extremely dangerous.

 

There was a flash of blue in the corner of his vision, and Ichigo skids to a halt, changing his direction towards it. He summons a flaming shield just in case, hoping it would be enough to negate a strike aimed at him. As Ichigo reaches the room at the end of the corridor, he finds a familiar figure lying on the ground, looking like he was hit by a lightning; it was Hanatarou from the research and medical facility.

Ichigo crouches next to him with a concerned frown; the weak-framed man was no elemental, so of Grimmjow had given him a bigger blast, the young man would likely be dead. Luckily though, he feels a heartbeat on the man’s chest. It made his blood boil, for that bastard to attack someone as defenseless as Hanatarou with no remorse.

Except, then Ichigo hears a groan from further away, and spots a familiar looking mop further away from the spot. It was Yumichika, the weird fashionista from the second floor field agent commando team unit.

As Ichigo rushes to him, the picture became clearer; there were bits of charred vines around him and the man was badly injured. Looking at the wall behind Hanatarou, it seemed that the attack was aimed at Yumichika, and poor Hanatarou just happened to be within the range, getting hit as well.

”Kurosaki...” Ichigo looks at the man, who was coughing out smoke and bits of blood.

”Just stay still, I’ll call for help.”

”I’m fine....” the man protests, but as he tries to get up, he falls flat to the floor, passing out from exhaustion.

There wasn’t much Ichigo could do for him right now; while he had medical training, there was no equipment nearby, so he grasps the radio he’d taken from Rukia and informs the people in the building that there were people who needed medical attention in his location. After glancing at the two one last time, Ichigo continues running through the building, passing by more and more officers down, hit by a bolt of thunder.

It was clear that the place was in chaos, nobody having expected the power-break out.

Let alone having a crazy lightning-type metahuman running around, zapping everybody.

As Ichigo follows the trail of destruction, he soon realizes where the man was likely heading. It was the files storage at the basement floor, where they kept information about all the known criminals, people with connections to them, as well, as those who worked with the Guard. The man had said he’d come to look for somebody. Or they had, whatever it meant.

Ichigo skids to a halt at an intersection, then comes to a decision; he knew a shortcut to the place, and could perhaps get there before Grimmjow, at least as long as he did not take on an elemental form; given how highest levels could literally become their element, a lightning types would be fast as fuck. With his mind set, Ichigo sprints to the opposite direction, hoping to whatever gods that his instincts was right about the place the man was heading.

 

 

 

Orihime Inoue had been chatting with her friend Tatsuki - a young but strong rookie from the Human Criminal Activity unit - when the lights went out.

They were currently at the basement floor within the file cabinets storage as Inoue had agreed to help Tatsuki find something regarding to a case.

”Huh, that’s strange. Did an elemental rookie cut the main cable again or overload the system or something?” Tatsuki wonders out loud; it was not unusual for that to happen, when you trained elementals in the same building. Sometimes the beginner officers would accidentally damage something with their powers.

Inoue hums and is about to comment with her own theory when unfamiliar voices break the silence.

”It should be around here somewhere. This is the spot they keep the files on leapers.”

A male voice speaks out, gaining a snort from someone.

”Why do we have to do this anyway? Couldn’t boss have found that bitch without this?”

”Shut your moth DiRoy! You know full well he tried, this is the best option. Besides it’s fun to mess with these morons.”

A louder, lower male voice spoke up, the sound booming in the empty walls.

 

The two girls quickly hide behind a cabinet, watching as a trio of unknown men walk past their spot. One of them had long blond hair, and he seemed to be leading the team. The biggest, brawliest guy had a red Mohawk, and he was clearly the owner of the booming voice. Last one was a sneaky looking guy whose face was partially covered by a bandage as well as his hair. He glanced around with a grumpy look, as if he didn’t want to be there.

”Those guys aren’t officers.” Tatsuki whispers, feeling her heartbeat fasten in her chest. Something was off, that was for sure.

”Still, woulda been easier just to go and blast off all the places we know she could’ve been in.”

”That woman is a witness for them, they would not let her stay in her usual place, knowing people want her dead.”

The blond comments casually, gaining another snort from his weird-toothed companion.

”He could’ve done this shit without us easily.”

”Are you complaining about our boss, DiRoy?” The big guy questions again, and the two start bickering loudly, making the blond haired man rub his eyes with an irritated sigh.

”While you two boneheads keep arguing...” he mutters, looking trough a specific shelf now. He was really close to the two girls now, who backed away quietly, hoping to reach a nearby door and inform someone about the intruders.

”Are they elementals?” Inoue questions quietly as she could feel the familiar tingle on her skin when she was nearby one; as each elemental radiated a certain kind of aura corresponding to their element. Inoue had always been especially sensitive to this kind of thing, so her feel was rarely wrong.

”Could be, if your senses say so.” Tatsuki whispers quietly and they keep backing away, knowing that neither of them had any chance to deal with three of them.

The two girls slip by another shelf, spotting a door and cautiously heading it’s way.

Tatsuki stops by the edge of the shelf, glancing at the direction they came from. She could still hear the guys chatter idly, indicating they had not been spotted yet. Orihime backs away backwards as well, her heart beating loudly in her chest. Suddenly, the woman could sense something else; a strange kind of prickling on her skin, something she’d never felt before. Not to this extend anyway.

Orihime stops, suddenly realizing that there was a presence behind them, giving her that threatening sensation.

Tatsuki turns to say something to her, when she freezes, eyes wide.

”Yo.”

A blue flicker appears into the darkness, small bits of lightning dancing around a man who was now blocking their exit, hands in his pockets.

Inoue backs away, and Tatsuki instantly steps in front of her pointing her weapon at the man. The blue eyes glance at the gun once, and he snorts, clearly unimpressed.

”Go ahead, shoot. See what good it does you.”

He comments with a taunting grin, the sparks illuminating his form intensifying both in size and brightness. It was almost like a halo of blue lightning, swirling and sizzling around him as the man walked closer to them, making the two girls back away slowly.

”Yes, we found it now....oh? Did not know we had people in here.” Inoue glances back, noticing that the trio had now spotted them, as well as the man who was currently forcing them to back away towards the three.

”Boss! We found the info you wanted.” The big guy informs the blue haired man, who was still examining the two girls standing between them.

”Ya want us ta deal with these two?” The weird-tooth asks, grabbing Orihime as soon as she was close enough, making the girl yelp in fear. Tatsuki looks towards her, then back at the man in front of her. This was a bad situation; they were cornered by four elementals, and the blue haired one especially seemed strong, given that even Tatsuki could sense his power radiate off from him.

”Can we? This one’s cute!” The man asks again, licking his lips as he looks at Orihime, who tries to tug the man’s grip off from her.

”If you lay a hand on her I swear I blow your head off!” Tatsuki yells at the sleazy bastard, but before she could really do anything, the blue haired man suddenly appears in front of her, grasping her wrist and aiming the gun away from him. His grip was strong, and it burned because of the slight sizzling sparks that still surrounded his body.

The man flashes a maniac-like grin at her, and Tatsuki felt his resolution falter: she was not equipped or generally capable of dealing with a threat of this level.

”You got some spunk for a mere human. I like that.”

Tatsuki just glares up at the man, trying to ignore the pain her wrist as well as her fear that slowly crept into her. The man stares down at her for another second longer, and then yanks her arm, throwing her casually against the nearest cabinets, actually knocking them down.

_”Tatsuki!”_

Inoue yelps worried for her friend who seemed to be badly hurt. It was no surprise; the man had thrown her with such force it was bound to injure the girl. The red haired man laughs, his voice booming in the space.

”That was almost cute; she thought she could take you on!” The man laughs, clearly finding some sick joy on the way Tatsuki was injured. The blue haired man just snorts, turning his attention to the blond man who offered him a file. ”Here you go. This should have everything you need.”

The man hums and opens the file, his expression shifting from uninterested boredom to a bloodthirsty grin as he scrolled through it.

”So that’s where they keep her. Good to know.”

”I assume you’ll pay her a visit?” The blond man asks, and the man’s grin widens, turning almost angry.

Whoever this woman in the files was, she was clearly in trouble.

”Heyyy, again, boss, can I keep this one?” The man seemed to have forgotten Orihime for a moment, and glances at her dully.

Before he said anything however, a blast of fire hits between them, sending the guys stumble backwards to the floor, whereas the blunette just back flips in the air and skids few meters back on his fours, eyes widened for a moment.

He had clearly not expected that.

Orihime is freed during this chaos, and she sprints to Tatsuki, who was trying to get up now, her head bleeding from the impact. ”Why don’t you back off from my friends?” Ichigo asks, breathing heavily: he’d ran all the way here, only to find out he’d been too slow still and now two of his closest friends were in a pinch. ”Who da hell is this guy?” The weird-tooth asks, rubbing his head irritated.

”One of the coppers that tried ta interrogate me.”

The man comments casually, getting up and cracking his neck as he looks at Ichigo with that arrogant smirk plastered on his face.

”Hows yer girlfriend?”

”She’s in much better shape than you could ever imagine.” Ichigo responds, holding his flames ready.

He glances at the two girls who were currently trying to back away from the scene, with Inoue supporting her injured friend. Grimmjow’s gaze drifts to them too now, and Ichigo saw the intention on his face. The man lifts his arm and aims a bolt of lightning at the two girls, who look in horror as it approaches them. Ichigo leaps into action, jumping between them and managing to take the blow from the attack into his flaming shield.

It did not negate all of it, and the young man coughs out some blood, but holds his ground.

”We’ll handle this firecracker boss; just get outta here as you got better things to deal with.” The big guy states, cracking his knuckles as bits of fire dance around him.

Another fire user huh?

Grimmjow just snorts, giving one last careless glance towards them, before heading out of the room, towards the hole the group had apparently done to enter this area. Ichigo throws a flame after the man, but it is blocked easily by a bigger ball of fire thrown by the big guy, creating an explosion in the middle of the room and knocking several shelves over, as well as burning a few. ”Not bad for a kid!” The big guy laughs, clearly amused.

Ichigo glances at the two girls, indicating that they should get out of there. Inoue follows the advice, dragging Tatsuki out of there through the door they originally attempted to escape from.

”Are we just gonna let those two escape?” DiRoy asks, to which he gets a response from Ichigo; a fireball thrown at his face, knocking the guy over in agony.

”Yes. You will. And I will knock you three out and go after your boss next.”

The big guy lets out another, loud laugh and throws a large fire at Ichigo, to which he dodges by jumping aside, narrowly missing the ball of fire. ”Even if you could do the former, agent, Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez is beyond your weak self; he’ll burn you to ashes like all those cops before you!” Ichigo says nothing, just concentrates his fire into a tight sphere, and throws it at the man.

The seemingly flimsy flame grows in size suddenly, and explodes, knocking the whole trio back against the shelves still left standing.

The young man gives out a victorious smirk, but its short lived as suddenly a large splash of water hits him, turning down his flaming shield. It was the weird-tooth guy, who was glaring at him angrily while water swirled around him.

A water user? Okay, this could be tricky.

Ichigo dodges another blast of water aimed at him, and it goes through the wall due to the sheer pressure of the attack.

He then has to dodge a whirling slash of wind that cuts plenty of shelves into bits; the blond had joined the fight too, and he was apparently a wind-user. Ichigo considers his options; things did not look good, he was alone against three potentially metahuman level elementals hellbent on killing him, and it did not seem like anybody was heading there for his help just yet, given the chaos Grimmjow’s random attacks and the power outage had thrown the place in.

”Come on, where’s that confidence from earlier, kid?” The big guy taunts as Ichigo jumps away from the path of another attack, skidding across the floor and ducking to avoid a slashing wind. Good thing was that if these guys were metahuman - Ichigo wasn’t actually sure, he just assumed so given Jeagerjaquez was - they hadn’t shifted into an element form yet, perhaps underestimating him.

Then, an idea pops up in his head; it was risky but could work.

First, Ichigo dodged another strong water attack that pushed some shelves aside, blocking the hole on the wall as he calculated. Next, Ichigo began to manipulate the atmosphere in the room, slowly at first so that the trio would not notice. He pumped up the heat slowly but surely, and having the big guy throw his fire everywhere also helped. ”Watch where you throw those things, Liones!” The blond man protests as one of those attacks nearly hit him.

”Stop getting in the way, Grantz!” The man roars back at him, and then throws another fireball at Ichigo, whose constant dodging seemed to begin annoying the three.

The white haired weirdo kept sending water jets at Ichigo’s direction, but they became noticeably weaker, as the water evaporated slowly, gathering steam to the roof. The blond seems to notice something was off, as he stops for a moment, glancing at the ceiling and touching his now sweaty face.

”What are you trying?” The man demands from Ichigo, who just smirks.

The room was now incredibly hot, and aside from Ichigo and the big guy, the two others were sweating heavily, and their movements became sluggish. By blocking the hole, Ichigo had transformed the room into a mostly airtight spot, and the more the fires burned, the more air was being taken off the air. It was risky, as he could pass out too, but this was not what Ichigo was trying to do.

Surely once the men noticed this fact, they’d try to poke a hole to this airtight prison.

An airtight prison, which was also acting like a pressure vessel due to all of the heat and slowly expanding water vapor that gathered around them as time moved on.

”He’s trying to knock us out! Liones, open the hole!”

The blond yells at his companion, who blinks confused at first, but then does as the man says. Ichigo smirks and quickly dodges to hide behind a pile of broken down shelves. The second the fire blast opens the hole, the pressure bubble bursts within the room, making the blast much bigger than Liones meant, throwing him and all of his mates across the room, all the way to the other end, crashing them against the wall.

Ichigo could feel the whoosh of hot air move past him, and he curled up tighter to not be flown away by it as well.

Once the wind and flames died down, Ichigo peeks up; everything was covered in dust and soot, charred or soaked pieces of paper and twisted metal.

The trio was all knocked out cold due to the impact.

Ichigo could also bet that now somebody knew he was there.

The man glances at the door Inoue and Tatsuki had gone out from, hoping they’d gotten far enough. Ichigo gets up and sprints after Grimmjow, hoping the man had not left the building yet. Given the next room was the power-room; it was likely where the group had entered in from. Indeed, Ichigo saw the freshly carved tunnel that led somewhere from within the building. Without a second thought, Ichigo heads through it, illuminating his way with a small flicker of light on his palm. There was no point in trying to hide; the man would likely spot his bright orange head anyway.

As the tunnel curves up, and daylight starts entering it, Ichigo soon realizes that it led to the old, broken down part of the facility that had never been taken down; there had been plans on repairing this area, but it never came to fruition. It had been cut off with large steel doors and concrete walls from the rest of the building, allowing access only to a very few people due to how dangerously shaky this part was.

Ichigo did not know what had happened here that made this side unusable, but it was clearly bad; the large area was badly burned, as if an explosion happened in there.

Ichigo looks around cautiously, trying to catch a glimpse from the blue haired man. Suddenly, he felt a prickle in the air and Ichigo dodges just in time as a lightning bolt hits the ground on the spot he’d just stood a second ago. Looking up, he saw the blue haired man standing on the edge of the halfway broken down upper level; it was like a cross section of the building inside it, half of the interior blasted to bits only leaving another side standing, everything covered by the outer shell.

Grimmjow snorts as he jumps down, glaring at Ichigo with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity.

”You’re tougher than you look I suppose. Thought those three would’ve killed you by now.”

”They did not use their element form, which was a mistake.” Ichigo states simply, lighting up flames around him again.

Grimmjow stares at him for a second, then snorts and laughs, the kind of laugh that made most people want to pee their pants and hide under their beds. ”Those tree ain’t metahuman; don’t get cocky just because you kicked their asses.”

The last part comes out as a vicious snarl, and blue lightning sparkles around Grimmjow again; he sends a large bolt of lightning towards Ichigo who quickly jumps aside, knowing his fire-shield was not big enough to cover him from that attack.

He sends a fire blast hurling towards Grimmjow, who just slices through it with an electricity covered kick, before jumping in the air and aiming another blue lightning at Ichigo. The orange haired male quickly dodges it, then has to cartwheel backwards again, as the man lands on the spot he’d stood with an intense, lightning covered kick that actually causes a crater to the floor.

Ichigo backs away, doubt creeping into his mind as he sees the man’s wide grin trough the dust.

He might be over his head right now.

”What’s the matter?” The man asks casually, holding his arm up and slicing through the air, sending an arch of electricity hurling towards Ichigo, who now had no choice but to block it with an intensely burning fire-shield; the attack was too wide and fast for him to dodge.

It pushes the young man several feet back, burning his arms pretty badly.

It was rare, as normally burning was not something Ichigo had to worry about.

Suddenly, the man appears next to him, his entire body glowing in a bluish hue, and he kicks Ichigo with a roundhouse kick, sending him flying through the air, crashing against already unstable wall. The hit knocks all the air out of his lungs, and for a moment, Ichigo sees stars. He manages to clear his head just enough to dive and dodge a lightning laced punch aimed at his face that surely would’ve hurt pretty bad, or even killed him if it landed.

Ichigo kicks at the man’s feet attempting to throw him off balance, but Grimmjow just jumps in the air, kicking him in the head and sending him fly sideways now.

Ichigo skids to the floor, a nasty burn to his cheek. His heart was beating rapidly now, as terror began to creep into him. This guy was beyond his league. Grimmjow had stuffed his hands into his pockets and was now walking towards him with a mad grin, his entire body still glowing blue. Ichigo glances around, trying to find a way to escape. Before he could however, he was yanked off the floor, held up in the air by his collar.

Ichigo grasps the arm holding him, trying to ignore the pain touching the man’s electric-laced skin caused.

He tried to ignite a flame as well, but his own fear had apparently paralyzed his elemental powers for now.

”Yer resilient, I give you that.” Grimmjow comments casually, and then throws Ichigo against the wall once again, this time hard enough to draw blood from his head and cause a momentary blackout.

He paces to the wheezing Ichigo, smacking his foot against the younger male’s throat. It burned lightly due to the lightning still swirling around Grimmjow’s body, and made him twitch uselessly, unable to move.

”But you’re also outta yer league, kid. T’was stupid to run after me by yourself, when all you got going for yourself is those flimsy candle lights you keep throwing around.” Grimmjow comments with a near malicious grin, looking like a predator ready to devour its prey.

However, the man pulls his foot away, allowing Ichigo to cough out and breathe, holding his aching throat.

Well, his whole body ached, but his throat was the worst.

The man examines him quietly for a moment, then sighs and brushes his hair, sounding irritated. ”Killing someone as weak as you ain’t fun.”

He pauses then smirks at Ichigo.

”It’s especially a shame with that cute face of yours.”

The orange haired male glares up at the man, but before either of them could do anything further, the entire building shakes, and Ichigo could hear something akin to an explosion and a loud rumble from further away.

Grimmjow looks around, eyes sharp and wide, and he curses under his breath.

”The hell is that fucker doing?!”

Before Ichigo could even begin to question what the man meant, this part begins to shake as well, and the walls begin collapsing on them, sending dust, rubble and loud noise everywhere around them, blinding them both. Ichigo attempts to move in a feeble attempt of escape, but then something heavy lands on him, making the man yelp; an extreme amount of pain strikes his lower body, and for several precious moments, all Ichigo could hear was the deafening noise around him, and all he saw was white.

Eventually, the dust settles, leaving behind deafening silence.

 

Ichigo could not see anything at first, nor hear anything aside from the ringing of his ears and the thundering of his heartbeat. Then, slowly, his vision begins to clear. The entire building, both the old and the new part, had collapsed. He’d survived by a miracle, as two pillars had created sort of a protective hole for him to be in. The opening was wide enough for him to crawl out, too. Cold grips Ichigo’s mind as he worries over his friends.

However, once the young man attempts to get up and search for his friends, sharp pain makes him groan out loudly and slump back to the ground. Something was pinning his lower body to the ground, sending waves of pain coursing through his body. There was a sound of a smaller blast somewhere nearby, indicating that Grimmjow used his powers to break free from underneath all the scrap on him.

 

This was how he ended up there, bloodied, burned and broken, covered by a pile of rubble, left alone by a person who looked hell-bent on killing him right now.

Ichigo did not understand it at first.

Then, he spots the bodies partially covered in rubble nearby; Grimmjow’s comrades.

It seemed like they’d woken up and attempted to come for their leader’s aid, but then the building collapsed on them, killing the trio instantly.

Ichigo felt the weight leave his lower body, before he was violently yanked up and against the last bit of wall still standing. Grimmjow’s eyes were sharp, face in an angry snarl. He was bleeding from a cut on his forehead, and the blue hair was messed up and covered in dust, like most of him in general.

The electricity sparkled around him again, but it did not register as pain in Ichigo’s mind anymore, for there was too much of it already; his brain was in shock, dulling the sensations.

”I should fuckin’ kill you right now after all. If you’d just stayed behind and taken care of yer little lady instead of trying ta’ stop us, they would’ve made it out alive!”

Ichigo coughs, unable to give back a snappy remark like he wanted to, which in hindsight would've been a stupid thing to do in this situation. Not that it mattered, he was gonna die anyway, given the look the man was giving him.

The grip around his throat tightens, and Ichigo’s hands grasping the arm slacken, as his vision begins to blur.

Then, the man glances down for some reason, and after a moment, a vicious, angry grin appears on his face as he looks back up at Ichigo’s mangled face.

”Yeah, I _could_ kill you, but given how you ain’t walking with those again, that’s a punishment enough for this.”

Ichigo did not understand what the man meant, and was surprised as the grip slackened, letting him drop to the ground in a heap. Grimmjow spits to the ground beside him, eyes still burning with anger.

”Stay outta my way kid if you know what’s good for ya.” After that, the man walks away, and the last thing Ichigo saw before blacking out was the flash of blue hair.

 

 

There were beeping sounds around him.

Also people, who were talking. Ichigo tries to move, but his mind is groggy, and his body felt like led.

A voice calls out to him, and after a while, Ichigo manages to open his eyes.

Everything was blurry at first, but eventually he recognized the familiar female face looking at him with a worried frown. It was Rukia, and she seemed mostly okay, aside from a bandage around her forehead.

”...Where...?”

”Central hospital; entire Seireitei Guard was taken down.” Rukia informs him about something the young man already knew.

”Wh...”

”There was a bombing; somebody had snuck bombs to the building and placed them in spots that would ensure the entire thing came tumbling down.”

Rukia explains with a slow sigh, rubbing her eyes. Looking around, Ichigo noted that Renji was sleeping in a bed beside him, a bandage around his head too.

”Renji was hit in the head by fallen rubble. He’d been bringing the injured out alongside Orihime.”

That reminded Ichigo. ”Are they alright? Orihime and Tatsuki?”

”Yes, just shaken. Tatsuki’s injuries aren’t as bad as they look.” Rukia smiles at him reassuringly, but she quickly turns serious.

”This whole thing was a trap; Aizen likely requested Grimmjow to get caught so most of our focus would be on him. We would not then notice the bombs being placed, or the group you dealt with; the trio was likely the group that planted them.”

”I think they...”

”Yes, we recovered their bodies, but there was no sign of Jeagerjaquez.”

That was not a surprise; he’d seen the man walk away. There was also something about her statement that nagged Ichigo the wrong way, but it took him a while to realize what it was.

”….Why’d they try to blast the place while he and his buddies were still inside, if the whole thing was just a trap from Aizen. Were they remotely activated?”

Rukia frowns at that. ”I do not know, it baffles me as well; we still don't have much data on the actual explosives used as the analysis hasn't even begun yet due to all the chaos.”

Ichigo nods, and then flinches as he tries to get up. His body still ached pretty bad. Except for his legs.

In fact...

He couldn’t feel them at all.

Ichigo looks up at Rukia confused, who seems to get what he was thinking. The woman sighs, looking at him apologetically.

”The doctors tried their best. Unohana did all she could, but...the damage is too severe.”

Ichigo blinks, and then pushes the covers aside. His legs looked positively mauled with scarring, burn marks and metal bits sticking out to keep his bones in place. The man just stares at them in light shock, his brain unable to process the situation properly. ”Even when using elemental healing techniques...none of them had the skill to fix your nerve system down there.”

She pauses, biting her lip and looking at Ichigo with a sad look. ”In all likeness, you will not walk ever again, or it is highly unlikely without a miracle.”

Ichigo just stares at her in utter shock. He’s in that state even when his family pushes in from the door, with Isshin clutching his son tightly; crying his eyes out glad to see the boy was alive. His sisters hug him too, though not as tightly. Ichigo just stares at his now useless limbs, Grimmjow’s words echoing in his head.

 

 

_You ain’t walking with those again._


	2. Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo and Rukia try to help a terrified girl into safety, as she's being chased by a thunder-wielding maniac  
> The said maniac appears in Ichigo's house later, giving the young man a chance - a dangerous one, but still one - to do something despite his bad physical state.

She knew she was in trouble; the Seireitei Guard had fallen, which meant nobody would be around to protect her in a while.

Not only that, but she’d heard that Jeagerjaquez had been there too. 

Menoly wasn’t stupid; she knew the man had survived the collapse, and was likely hot on her trail.   
The sand blond haired girl quickly packs her things, knowing she had to get out of the city as soon as possible. 

Having Aizen want her dead was one thing. 

Jeagerjaquez was far more merciless with his anger, and he had a good reason to hate her guts. 

The girl glances at the photo on the wall, about her and a pig-tailed girl, her closest friend who’d been killed by Aizen a while ago, the reason she’d leaped and decided to aid the Guard.

Loly had been a stubborn girl, madly in love with their cold-blooded leader.   
Menoly had always tried to reason with her, but she never listened, up until it was too late.   
She’d been there, when it happened. Menoly had watched as Aizen had ordered her execution.   
She could still recall Loly’s face moments before her life had been snuffed out; she’d been burned alive by one of Aizen’s closest men, Tousen.

She could still remember the way others had laughed, the way some of them had leered at the destruction, at the inhumanely cruel way the girl had her life destroyed.   
Most of all, she remembered Jeagerjaquez. 

He’d been calm as usual, seemingly not caring if some weakling bit the dust. Instead, he’d casually asked if they should kill Menoly too, turning everyone’s attention to her. It had been clear to her, the man was more than eager to use his monstrous power to kill her personally.

Now he had a reason for it, and Aizen was no longer protecting her like he had then.   
Either way, she’d be dead. 

The girl hauls her back bag over her shoulders, and tugs the hood on, before jumping out of the window and running across the dark alleyways, heading for the edge of the city.

 

 

Ichigo had eventually recovered from his shock, and learned further info about the situation: by a miracle, none of his friends had died on the collapse, but several were badly injured. Yumichika was still out cold, and Hanatarou had not woken up either. 

The entire guard was in chaos, and they’d had to set a temporary camp to a nearby old parking lot that was not in use. Nobody had expected the bombing, nor did anyone know who’d placed them. Investigation on this could not begin until the site was cleared properly.

They’d lost track on Jeagerjaquez completely, which wasn’t surprising. 

”We’ll catch that bastard soon, don’t worry.” Renji told him, having woken up recently. He seemed to be taking Ichigo’s severe injury personally, putting all the blame on Grimmjow.

Ichigo was more realistic about it; it was stupid of him going after Grimmjow by himself, and it was the facility’s fault as a whole that nobody spotted the bombs on time. 

”You were so badly burned a-and...” Inoue begins her voice shaky. When they’d found Ichigo, he’d been an awful shape, marks from both the fight as well as the collapse clearly visible on his body.  
He’d been in critical condition, but by a miracle, Unohana had managed to save his life much to his friend’s relief. 

His legs however, were another story.

Despite Unohana’s best efforts, there wasn’t much to be done, the damage was too severe.   
His bones would likely heal mostly, but his nerves were too damaged. 

”I am so sorry Kurosaki-kun.” Unohana had apologized to him personally, to which Ichigo had stated it was okay. It was not like there was anything he could do about it.

”Still though; what the hell were those guys looking for from the files?” Renji muses, still not understanding the whole reason behind Grimmjow’s little operation.  
”Um...they were looking for a person I think. They had this file in their hands with a name on it.”  
Everybody turns to look at Orihime, who plays with her hair nervously now.

”I saw it... I think it said Menoly or so...”

The name says nothing to Ichigo, but Rukia tenses visibly.

”...Oh gods.”  
”What is it?” Renji asks, also dumbfounded.

”Menoly...Menoly Mallia was our information source regarding to Aizen; she told us about the rumor regarding Jeagerjaquez, as well as helped us locate him eventually.”  
Ichigo’s eyes widen, he could tell what the woman was thinking.

”Where is she now?” He demands, and Rukia was already digging out her phone, calling for someone.  
”We need to find her before Grimmjow gets to her. He probably has a reason to want her dead.”  
Ichigo did not like the situation one bit; someone’s life was in danger because he couldn’t stop the blue haired maniac from escaping. Somebody who’d put their life at risk to help the law-enforcement.   
Rukia speaks on the phone quietly for a while, and then her expression turns into a concerned frown.

”What do you mean you cannot find her?”

After a moment of silence, Rukia turns to look at the group with wide, extremely alarmed look.  
”She’s gone: apparently the chief already had a suspicion that this related to Ms. Mallia so he sent officers to check her house. It was empty. Her backbag and some valuables were missing too.”

”Sounds like she bolted.” Renji concludes, the situation had to be bad given Rukia’s pale expression.   
The woman just nods, not knowing what to say.

”We...we need to conduct a search for her. She might still be in the city.”   
The short woman eventually voices out, though it was clear Rukia was doubtful of this.

”Let me help.” Ichigo states instantly, feeling responsible for letting Grimmjow escape.   
”No. You are too injured.”

”Even if my legs don’t work, I can still sit in a car and look around!” Ichigo protests, to which Rukia points out he cannot drive without his legs. The man huffs frustrated, realizing the situation he was in.   
”Just rest, Ichigo, we’ll deal with this situation.” Renji reassures his friend, who looks lile he wants to argue, but then decides to slump back against the bed with a defeated sigh, knowing this was an argument he couldn’t win. 

 

 

Menoly had reached the edge of the city, near the train station. She was planning on hopping aboard the next cargo train, away from this place.  
All she had to do was sneak past the train guards, which should be easy.

The girl moves about carefully; it was already evening, so it was dim, but she still keeps the hood over her head, trying to be as invisible as possible. 

As she slips into the train tracks, searching for a suitable train, the lights around her flicker suddenly.  
The girl freezes her breathing picking up alongside her heartbeat. 

She looks around cautiously, but did not see anybody, aside from some railroad workers further away, who could not see her from the train shadows.

She sucks in a deep breath and continues walking, heading for the train at the northern corner of the station. It was the spot where cargo trains going the furthest away stopped.  
The lights flicker again, then the nearest one to her bursts, almost making the girl yelp, but she bites her hand to silence herself, not wanting to attract attention.

These things broke every now and then, in all likeness it had been just a coincidence, as she still couldn’t really sense what she feared was after her. 

As Menoly gets closer to the train however, her skin begins to prickle and itch, and she stops, looking around in panic. Her heart beat so fast she worried it’d leap out of her chest.   
Another light breaks nearby her, making Menoly jump.

Now, she was certain, she was being followed.  
There were footsteps heading her way, a slow, confident pace that indicated whoever was following her, knew they’d catch her no matter how fast she ran. 

The girl begins to run regardless, not even knowing where she was going. She just wanted to get the hell outta there and fast. 

The girl decides to ditch her plan; if he was after her already, he’d know of her plan to use the train. Menoly begins heading back towards the city, the station lights. Surely even HE would not attack her in the middle of a crowd.

Except, Menoly remembers soon enough, whom she was talking about.

He did not care for causalities. If he wanted her dead, she’d be dead, no matter who got in the way. The girl reaches the corner of the station building and sprints back to the streets, running for a good while until the prickling was gone.

Menoly stops, catching her breath.

If the man caught her, her wind-powers did not do much good. She was so much weaker, even compared to the wind-user who served under Jeagerjaquez. 

Going back in her home was risky; that was the first place the man would look, in case he’d found out her address. She could not go any of her old places either, as then Aizen would perhaps take interest in offing her. So far he hadn’t, probably because she was too insignificant in his eyes.

Just like Loly had been.

Menoly swallows down the bitter tears; this was no time to start bawling your eyes out.  
She tugs the bag firmer over her shoulder, trying to form a new plan.

Perhaps.... she knew where the Guardsmen had been taken; some were in that parking-lot, others in the hospital. Maybe she could go there and talk with someone? It was worth a shot.  
Cautiously, the girl begins heading towards the city center. 

 

 

Ichigo couldn’t really sleep; his body still ached, and there was ghost pain from his legs, which technically had no feel to them. After a moment, he sighs and sits up, rubbing his eyes.

He hated the situation, as he felt responsible. Ichigo had no clue who Menoly Mallia was, but her life was potentially in danger because Ichigo let a madman hell-bent on killing her escape.  
The man rubs his eyes frustrated, and then hears some commotion outside his room. It was unusual as it was late on the night, and most of this place had quieted down now. The wing was full of Seireitei Guard agents, so it was highly secure, further lessening the noise around these parts.

A moment later, Ichigo could see two patrolling uninjured guardsmen trying to push a young girl away, who seemed frantic. The two weren’t listening to her, threatening to arrest the girl for trespassing.   
As she tries to resist their hold, her eyes hit towards Ichigo’s room, and for a moment the two just look at each other.

Something about Ichigo apparently told the girl he could help, as she escaped from the two men’s clutches and ran into his room. She looked positively frantic, as if a hellhound was after her.   
”You..you’re part of the Guard too, right?”  
Ichigo just nods, baffled at the turn of events. The two men enter the room, attempting to throw her out again.  
”No, you don’t understand! He’s after me! Let me talk to Ukitake-san!”

”Yeah yeah, we’ve heard that before.”

”Wait!”

The two stop, and turn to look at Ichigo, who gazes at the woman with a frown.  
”You...do you happen to be Menoly?”

The girl nods, and manages to shake off the duo’s grip, walking to him quickly.  
”I need to talk with Ukitake-san! I ran all the way here from the station. I meant to go to the temporary guard post in the parking lot, but h-he...”  
The girl trembles visibly, glancing around as if expecting something to attack her.

”....Do you mean Grimmjow?”  
The woman’s gaze snaps back at him, and she now seems to take a closer inventory on him.  
”....You had a run in with him too, didn’t you?”  
Ichigo just nods. 

The woman releases a trembling sigh, and glances at the two still standing on the door. Ichigo waves at them, indicating it was okay. The two glance at her suspiciously, but leave the room, staying right behind the door.  
”Please, sit down and take a deep breath.” Ichigo instructs the girl gently, who eventually does so and explains her story to the young officer; her voice was so shaky that the man was concerned she’d end up having a panic-attack. 

Ichigo nods again, listening patiently.  
He could hear and see the terror in the girl’s shaky voice and wide eyes; she was convinced Grimmjow had followed her on the way.

”Why didn’t you just stay in your apartment? I’m sure somebody would have come to pick you up.”  
”After the whole thing collapsed? I could not count on it! Jeagerjaquez is especially c-cruel when he kills.” The woman nearly hiccups, rubbing her wrist to try and calm down. Ichigo reaches for her shoulder and squeezes it gently. She jumps at first, but then her breathing calms down slowly, partially because Ichigo applied some warmth to his touch from his elemental powers.

”Look, I’ll ask them to bring me a phone and I inform Ukitake. Our people are already looking for you.”   
The woman gazes at him, and then nods after a moment, sucking in a deep breath of air as she was still trying to calm down from the verge of panic.

Ichigo gestures the two at the door to come in, and requests them to bring him a phone.  
After a minute or so, he was calling Ukitake, waiting for the call to connect. Unfortunately, the line was busy, which was understandable given the situation.  
He then attempts to call Rukia or Renji, but they seemed to be busy with something too. With a sigh, Ichigo puts the phone away and looks at her apologizing.

”I’m gonna die, aren’t I?” She whimpers, curling up to a shadowy corner, trembling with fear.  
”No, not at all; the hospital is safe, and my co-workers will be back by the morning. You’re safe here.” Ichigo reassures the woman, who understandably looked skeptical; Grimmjow had his explosive ways to enter places, plus he didn’t care much about casualties based on what Ichigo saw with Hanatarou.

Regardless, she had no other place to go, so Ichigo requests the two to bring her a blanket and something warm to drink. The two agree begrudgingly, still suspicious but not daring to question Ichigo as he was technically higher in rank.

As silence mounts between the two with the woman drinking her hot cocoa, Ichigo could not stop himself from asking about it.

”Why does he want you dead?”  
Menoly pauses, and there’s a flash of guilt in her expression.

”We ratted him out; Jeagerjaquez was trying to help one of his older subordinates to escape Aizen’s clutches as he was getting sick. We found out and...We told Aizen. He killed the old man and punished him for it, stripping down his rank as an Espada. That’s why I…when I heard he’d left Aizen’s rank, I believed it.”

Ichigo blinks, surprised to hear this. Then again...Grimmjow had become extremely angry at Ichigo for his friends dying. 

”Why?”

The woman sighs, curling up some more after putting her drink away.  
”Loly...she was in love with Aizen. She would’ve done anything for him. I didn’t necessarily agree with it, but I wanted to her to be happy...”

”So...you felt pressured to do so?”

The woman nods, unable to look at Ichigo in the eyes. 

The man says nothing; he could understand how hard it could sometimes be to tell your friend or other close one no, especially if they were dominant personality and you were a submissive one.   
It was in no way a healthy relationship, but they happened. 

”Well, we make sure he won’t be able to enact his revenge plot at you.”  
It was probably hard for her to be reassured in that state, especially by an officer who was badly crippled, but at least she attempted to smile at him.

Except, then a lightning struck outside and she whimpered, hiding under her blanket.  
”Hey hey, it’s okay; it was just thunder, as in, actual thunder.”  
Sure enough, it began to rain outside.  
Menoly peeks from under the blanket, but refuses to move from her spot. Ichigo sighs; this was going to be a long night, huh. 

Outside, in the rain, a pair of blue eyes stares at the hospital from a street nearby. He knew full well where his prey was right now.  
The question was where he’d take it out.  
The man smirks; he was not done playing with his food yet.

 

The next morning, Rukia appears to check on him, and is stunned speechless when she finds nervous Menoly fidgeting in the corner. Ichigo explains what had happened last night, and the woman frowns, but then expresses her gratitude that the girl was alive.

”We were concerned for your safety.” She reassures the girl, who kept glancing out of the window nervously.

Rukia then arranges so that she’ll be driving Menoly to meet Ukitake, who could then figure out what to do concerning her secure relocation. Ichigo also hitched a ride, wanting to talk with their boss. The woman naturally protests, but Ichigo insists he was well enough, and figured Ukitake would want to hear his side of what happened face-to-face.

Eventually Rukia gives in with a sigh, and they bring the young man out of the hospital in a wheelchair, and she alongside few nurses helps him sit to the backseat, while Menoly sneaks to the front. 

The drive is quiet, as the woman fidgets nervously, clearly still scared. Rukia glances at her understanding; she’d seen people like her before, people who made the wrong choices and were now in serious danger because of it.

Hunted by monsters, monsters like Jeagerjaquez.

The drive took them through a section of a forest, as their chiefs were still in another town, making the trip longer than it usually would be which clearly agitated their informant as she kept shifting around nervously. 

The weather was still bad and it was darker than it usually would be at this time of the day given the clouds covering the sky.

”Well, at least the rain will put out any fires left on the site.” Rukia breaks the silence with a thoughtful hum, gaining no real answer. Not that she was expecting it anyway.  
”Loly did not like thunder or rain much.”

Menoly breaks the silence next with a sad tone, and Rukia glances at the girl who’d been so quiet and tense the whole time.

”She was afraid of it, thunder I mean. She’d seen...him...kill people with his powers.”   
Menoly’s voice shook a little and she glances up at them with widened eyes.  
”You don’t have to speak about it.” Ichigo tells her gently from the back-seat, but the girl just releases a deep breath. 

”There was that agent of yours few years back. He was trying to get photographs about the high ranking members. Grimmjow noticed him.”

”There was nothing left but ashes and his camera.” Rukia recalls with a solemn tone, and the girl nods, still shaking.

”I think the worst part of it was the laugh. Loly said he’d sounded like some sort of demon, it was so bad even some of his fellow Espada were unnerved.”

”Well...his element type tends to be mentally destabilizing on metahuman level, hence it is rare.” Rukia comments neutrally, although Ichigo could tell she was tense, from the way the woman clutched the steering wheel. Rukia was not the type to show her fear openly, but she was clearly unnerved by what they were dealing with right now.   
”She was so scared of him; I thought when they...when she was...I thought Aizen would make him do it.” Menoly chokes out a breath and covers her face, sucking in some deep breaths and trying not to panic. Rukia reaches a hand out to rub her shoulder gently, having nothing to say to her dire situation. A fear like this was not easy to deal with. 

”Again; he won’t get his nasty hands on you, I promise.” Ichigo comments with a resolute tone. So what if his legs were busted? He could still burn the bastard’s face off if he really wanted to.   
Menoly remains quiet, and then opens her mouth to say something, when something suddenly hits the road next to them, sending the cat almost veer off the road.

”What was that?!”

Ichigo glances back, and he could see burnt black spot on the ground, almost if a lightning struck it. Except, there was no thunder in the air right now, which meant....

As he turns his gaze forward, they see a figure standing in the middle of the road.  
It was Grimmjow.  
The crazy bastard was standing in the middle of the road, hands in his pockets, smirking at them as his gaze focused almost burningly on Menoly, making the woman whimper in fear.

”Shit!” Rukia breaks quickly, but the car was going too fast. Not that it mattered for Grimmjow jumped out of the way, over the car and lending behind them, before sending a bolt of lightning towards the car, missing it by mere inches.

”Rukia, drive faster!”

The man didn’t have to tell twice, as the woman accelerates trying to shake off their pursuer.  
Looking back again, Ichigo could see Grimmjow sort of zapping across the road, appearing and reappearing in flashes of blue light, almost if he was teleporting.

He sent another lightning hurling towards them, but it misses as Rukia turns to a small side-road quickly that led into the woods.

Menoly let out a whimper, clutching her seat in utter fear.

Ichigo decides he had to do something, so against Rukia’s protest, he rolls down the window and leans out of it, throwing a fireball at the man, which he slices with a simple swipe of electricity-covered arm.  
It was hard to hit him in this speed and rain, let alone the fact the man popped in and out of sight constantly.   
Then, he almost gets hit with a lightning bolt, and is forced back inside.

”Is he still after us?!”

”Yes, he’s too quick, I can’t hit him.”

Suddenly, a lightning hits the car point blank, sending it off course and tumbling into the forest, crashing against the trees. 

Once Ichigo came to, he found the car was upside down, and Menoly was scrambling off her seat, attempting to run. Rukia was knocked unconscious; a second hard hit like this did not do any good to either of them, and Ichigo could feel sharp pain in his legs as some pins were dislocated.

His vision was blurred as well, and there was blood dripping down his head again.  
He watches helplessly as the girl attempts to run, then stumbles to the ground as a lightning hits near her feet. She backs away, staring at the man walking towards her with wide, fearful eyes.

Once Grimmjow came to his line of sight, Ichigo attempts to light a fireball, but then realizes that the car was leaking fuel; one spark could be lethal for them both. Maybe he could survive the blast given the fire would not harm him, but Rukia would be a goner.  
So, Ichigo is forced to watch what could potentially be a very brutal execution.

”I-I’m sorry! I didn’t...we didn’t think Aizen-Sama would kill him!”

The blue haired man stops, tilting his head and looking annoyed.  
”Yer pretty fuckin’ stupid if you couldn’t deduce that one.”

Lightning sparks dance around him again, and Menoly backs away further.  
Then, more figures appear to the site.

”My my, I did not think you’d deliver, Jeagerjaquez.”

The blunette looks up at the two newcomers, and Ichigo could tell from his expression he did not like the duo one bit. One was a large guy with a huge white collar to his jacket that made it look like his jaw was enormous. The one that spoke was black haired, feminine looking man who was looking at Grimmjow with a condescending look.

”We all thought you’d died in that blast. I suppose Aizen-Sama was correct to assume you didn’t since your body was not found.”

Grimmjow just grunts, stuffing his hands into his pockets.   
The newcomer turns his attention to the scared girl between them, who looks up at him terrified.

”Luppi-Sama.”

”At least the bitch still got manners!” The big guy booms, he was somehow even less likable than the redhead Ichigo had dealt earlier. 

”My my, little Menoly, you sure have gotten yourself into a pinch. Angering our brute is one thing, but Aizen-Sama is also displeased with you now.”

The man pauses, a soft yet cold smirk dancing on his lips. 

”Then again, having his ire fall upon you was a good thing for this little plan of ours; having his bandit group cause havoc truly made it easy for us to locate you, as well as get our hands into other useful information.”

Ichigo frowns at that; he’d only seen the men glance at one file, the one about Menoly.

”While everybody was focusing on the little sideshow the foolish brute was putting up, we could dig out what we needed from elsewhere. It’s a shame the operation was only partially successful, given Aizen now has to come up with something else to deal with our little brute.”

So the whole thing with Grimmjow had been a distraction for something else, and also they had really tried to kill the man in the process?

”If this all was for that, w-why bother going after me?” Menoly asks, rightfully so, not noticing that Grimmjow was walking towards her.

”Why, Aizen-Sama does not like loose ends, and you are a loose end. Besides, Grimmjow was hell-bent on ripping your head off, which our leader was not against, so he felt this would be the perfect opportunity to try and rid us of him.” Luppi glances at Grimmjow and makes a face, clearly displeased about the man’s survival.

“Well, can’t be helped; once he’s done with you, we’ll see what we’ll do with him; so don’t you worry your pretty head with that, it’s an ugly final thought.”

Luppi’s tone was near malicious now, and Grimmjow stops behind Menoly, who looks up at him with widened eyes. 

Ichigo desides to risk it, attempting to shoot a flame at them, he had to do something!  
But then, what happens next stops him. 

”Yeah, I do wanna rip her limbs off for what she and that late bitch Loly did to Shawlong...”

Suddenly, he appears in front of Luppi, and Ichigo watches in shock as the man thrusts a lightning covered arm straight through the man’s chest, surprising him and the big companion.

”It’s just that I fuckin’ hate you more.” He gives Luppi another one of those angry, vicious grins, and the man coughs out blood, glaring at him.

”You......!”

”See ya in hell, Bastard.” Grimmjow comments casually, letting an extreme amount of electricity run through Luppi’s body, until he was nothing but ashes.

Everybody at the scene stares at the man in shock, and then Yammy actually laughs.

”I thought you’d do that! You never got along with that little shithead!”  
Grimmjow says nothing, his face unusually serious. He glances at Menoly, then at the car as if contemplating something. 

”Come on, let’s grab the bitch, kill the cops if they’re still alive and head back. I’m fairly sure Aizen-Sama will forgive your sorry ass, it’s not like he was keen on offing you in the first place.”

Before Yammy could even take one step towards the scared girl, Grimmjow suddenly kicks him in the chest. At first it only pushes Yammy back a few meters, but then as a burst of electricity comes out, he is blasted up into the sky, flying in a large arc far, far away, cursing Grimmjow’s name as he went.

Lowering his foot to the ground, the man turns to look at the scared girl. He remains quiet, as if contemplating a decision. Finally, he snorts, and then kicks her bag towards her.

”Get outta here, Yammy’s gonna be back soon.”

The girl grabs the bag, getting up shakily and looking at him with wide eyes.  
”Told ya: as much as I hate your guts, I hate ’em more for tryin’ ta blast me to bits and killing my only friends left.” 

The woman swallows down nervously, and then glances towards the car. She felt bad for leaving the two behind, but she had no choice. There was no way in hell she’d wait for the giant to come back and start a fight with Grimmjow, let alone have the blunette change his mind.

The girl tugs her jacket tighter over herself, and starts running.   
Her wind powers helped her to gain more momentum, and she was out of their sight in less than a second.  
Grimmjow huffs, and then turns his attention to the upside down car.

It was leaking fuel, and he could see tiny bits of flames appear somewhere within it.

He could see the orange haired kid look at him from within the car, but upon noticing the flames too, he moves his focus away, trying to control it so the whole thing would not combust and explode. If his ice-lady mate was awake, she could probably fix the situation easily.  
Grimmjow watches the kid struggle for a moment, as the flames got bigger slowly.   
The rain had stopped so it did nothing to douse the flames.

It was clear the kid began to panic, which naturally would make it bloody impossible to control your powers.   
As he walks to the car, the orange haired head turns towards him, and there was fear there as expected, but also some sort of defiance. 

Grimmjow considers his options, then lets out an irritated sigh, and grabs the mangled door, ripping it off from the hinges.

He reaches in, unbuckling the kid’s seatbelt, making him drop to the roof that was now the floor, and he flinches in pain, which was not surprising given the state his legs were in.  
He drags the kid out, ignoring his pained protests, and then does the same with the woman, though she says nothing as the bitch is still knocked out cold.

He brings Rukia beside Ichigo, who managed to push himself into a sitting position, despite feeling dizzy. That’s when the car combusts into flames, but he’d dragged the two far enough so the small explosion doesn’t injure them further.

”....Why?”

The blunette turns his head from the raging fire to look down at Ichigo. The flames that warmed Grimmjow’s back were reflected in the brown orbs that stared up at him with questions in them.

”You owe me now, kid. I’m not having you die before I get my payback.”

Ichigo had no clue what that meant, but he could not ask either as he passed out soon after from his injuries and the aching.

Grimmjow rolls his eyes, and then grabs the radio from the kid’s waist.   
”Two of yer officers are down, you might wanna come n’ pick ’em up.” 

Ignoring the confused reply at other end, asking who he was, and the man gives out the location, then drops the radio beside Ichigo’s head. 

He was fairly sure the cops would make it there before Yammy did, given the impact with the ground probably would have knocked him out cold. Grimmjow glances down at the unconscious orange haired male. He was in deep shit now; Aizen would find out about Luppi’s death and try to kill ’im again, this time for sure. 

This was why he’d saved the orange haired kiddo and his friend.   
He could not go back.   
The man snorts as he begins walking away from the scene.  
Just another shit day in his life.

 

Next time Ichigo woke up, he was in a hospital again.   
His body ached pretty badly, but not as bad as last time. Either his injuries weren’t as bad, or they’d upped the painkiller dosage.

”Oh, you’re awake, thank goodness.”

Ichigo blinks, and finds Rukia again sitting next to his bed. Her head was wrapped in a bandage yet again, and she had a cast now, but as usual, Rukia seemed to be in a relatively good shape. She was incredibly resilient after all.  
”Where...”  
”Back at the hospital I am afraid. Renji and Ikkaku found us and brought us here.”  
”....The girl?”

”She’s gone. I assume Grimmjow...”  
Ichigo shakes his head.

”He didn’t. There were...there were two other men from Aizen, said something about the whole thing with Grimmjow ditching them being a ruse. He turned against them for trying to kill him in the bombing as well.”   
Rukia blinks confused, and Ichigo describes the situation he’d witnessed while she was unconscious. The woman holds her chin with a frown. So, their initial thought had been partially correct, but in the end Jeagerjaquez had switched sides at least somewhat.

”Well, the rumors always said he was a wild card.” The woman finally concludes with a sigh.  
She then looks at Ichigo sternly.  
”I also got orders from Ukitake to not allow you on any field-missions anymore. You’ve already done enough damage to yourself.”

”Then what am I supposed to do?”

It was a good question; being paralyzed like this made it very unlikely he’d be able to continue as an active agent for the Seireitei guard. Rukia sighs and rubs her eyes.  
”You’ll be on suspended leave for now. Go home and get some rest, we deal with everything that’s happened.”

Ichigo did not like the idea one bit, but he knew he had no choice.  
The man gazes at his hands, frustrated about the situation. If he was a metahuman, having your legs be paralyzed meant nothing as he could just transform his body to flames and move using his elemental powers.   
”I’m sure Unohana has not given up yet regarding to this, but she’ll need time.” Rukia reassures Ichigo, but it was not exactly that helpful. His legs looked pretty bad after all, and Unohana had already told him there was nothing she could do. 

 

 

In the end, Renji dropped Ichigo off to his apartment. They’d originally intended to bring him to his family home, but Ichigo insisted he needed some time to think right now, and having his family around 24/7 made it difficult. He promised to call them though, and they’d in turn visit him whenever he needed it.

Currently, he sat on his couch, having managed to somehow slump into it from his wheelchair. There were so many changes he’d have to do on his home alone if this was going to be permanent. Ichigo was just glad the place had a lift, as moving up to the sixth floor with a wheelchair trough stairs was pretty much impossible.

During some point watching the news, Ichigo had dozed off, but he was startled awake by a sound somewhere in his apartment.

He looks around cautiously, hating the fact he was sort of stranded to the couch.   
”You drop your guard too easily.”  
Ichigo spins his head around, finding Grimmjow sitting at a chair in a shadowy corner of the room, drinking a can of beer he’d taken from Ichigo’s fridge. It was the only kind of liquor Ichigo could handle without having a severe hangover in the morning. 

”Why are you here?” The orange haired man demands, lighting a ball of flames onto his palm.

Grimmjow snorts and rolls his eyes at the gesture.  
”Please. If I wanted ta kill ya, I could’ve done it while you slept.”  
”Why didn’t you?”

”I told you, you owe me.” Grimmjow stands up, walking towards Ichigo who backs away, his heartbeat quickening rapidly. He could feel the wounds from their fight ache, almost if expecting another round of pain inflicted upon his body.

Instead, the man just slumps to sit beside him, acting like he was at home, which was honestly quite irritating.   
”Aizen’s gonna want me dead now, so I need a place ta lay low till I figure out what to do.”

”Why did you do that? Why here?”

Grimmjow looks at him like he was somehow a brainless moron.  
”The fucker planned to kill me and my friends all along. I don’t take kindly to that.”  
Yeah, Ichigo could believe that, remembering the immense hatred aimed towards him when the man had blamed Ichigo for it. 

”Still, why here?”

Grimmjow drinks the rest of the can, then throws it aside, somehow making it land to the trashcan at the corner.

”Last place he’s gonna look for me.”  
”If you wanted protection….”

”I ain’t gonna ask fer help. I told you I just need a place to lay low, which means NOBODY will know I am here.” He turns to glare at Ichigo, who stares back at him defiantly again. He was not gonna let this crazy bastard intimidate him. 

”You can bet on it I’m gonna burn down all of those you care about if, you do tell someone.”  
He grabs Ichigo’s shirt collar next, tugging him closer so they were face-to-face.   
The face-splitting mad grin was still terrifying, but Ichigo refused to show his fear as per usual.

”And I’m gonna make you watch as I do it, ya hear me?”

Ichigo remains quiet for a long time; he knew all too well Grimmjow meant every word, but he could not just let a dangerous criminal into his house like this. 

”My family and friends will come for a visit every now and then.”  
The man snorts and let’s go of him.  
”I can make m’self invisible for that.”

Ichigo lifts eyebrow curiously, and the man rolls his eyes.

”Metaphorically speaking. It’s not a literal ability I got, dumbass.”  
”How can I be sure you won’t just try to kill me in my sleep?”  
The man looks at him pointedly.

”I’ve been here for two hours now as you played sleeping beauty. Did nothing to ya.”  
Okay, that was...encouraging. It was still unnerving to hear, the fact he’d been loitering around Ichigo’s house for that long without him noticing.

The young man ponders his options. He could not take the risk of informing people about Grimmjow’s presence, because he knew all too well the man meant his threats, and based on the fight they’d had, many would die before they could take this bastard down.  
”.....They are still looking for you, and likely will ask me questions about you as well given how I fought against you.”

Grimmjow hums, giving him a lazy smirk.  
”Wouldn’t call that a fight; more like you were being a useless punching-bag.”

Ichigo frowned irritated, but said nothing as he shamefully had to agree with the man. It was so pathetic. Ichigo had always been so sure of his strength, but Grimmjow had torn him down so easily, it was pitiful and embarrassing.

”So, do we have a deal?”  
”Won’t deals usually mean both parties get something?”  
Grimmjow snorts at that.

”I promise not to kill anybody while I’m here, n’ stay out of sight when your lil family and weakling friends stop by.”   
His condescending tone was not exactly promising, but Ichigo had no choice, so he nods.

”Deal.”

Perhaps, while Grimmjow was here, Ichigo could learn something useful that could help them defeat the man if needed... or find more Intel about Aizen. Maybe he could do something after all despite his heavy injuries.  
It was worth a shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the second chapter written out already too.   
> First some dickish predator-play from Grimmjow, before the plot-twist. I originally planned he'd just off Menoly like in the Anime/manga (temporarily as Orihime healed her) but I decided to do this twist as I felt it would be kind of unexpected. 
> 
> ...Gotta say, I almost feel sorry for Menoly here, almost.


	3. Violent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo has to deal with plenty of violent fits from his companion, but also a moment of gentleness that confuses him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yes. This is gonna be pretty nasty chapter, not gonna lie; Grimmjow's really throwing poor Ichigo around like a punching bag, and Ichigo is feeling really sick.  
> It gets better after this though, I promise.

His family dropped by for a visit after the first week or so.

Ichigo was tense, glancing around every now and then, but as promised, the man remained invisible somehow. Ichigo pondered if he did have ability similar to Aizen’s, but figured it was not likely; Light and lightning powers worked differently when it came to elementals, with latter being more about destruction and former about illusions.

”Ichi-nii?” His younger little sister asks, looking at him with a concerned look as her brother had spaced out for a long moment, staring at the corner of the room.

Ichigo blinks, then turns to look at her with an apologetic smile.

”Sorry, got a lot in my mind right now.”

Isshin looks at his son, understanding smile on his lips; being forced into a wheelchair in such dramatic manner had to leave its marks on Ichigo’s mental state, so it did not surprise the old man his son would at times seem like he was not fully there.

”It’s okay Nii-chan; Karin and I will visit you as often as we can, and help in any way you need.”

”Thanks, Yuzu, but I can handle myself, honestly.”

Karin gives him a doubtful look, and Ichigo rolls eyes at her.

”Really, just because I move slower, doesn’t mean my brain is slower.”

”Having your brain slow down further would be a miracle.”

Ichigo ruffles her black hair, smiling a bit. It was good to have his family around in this situation, honestly; they managed to lighten his mood despite the situation. After the family dinner-slash meeting was over, he watches them leave from his apartment window, feeling unease creep into his mind the second he’s alone again. Ichigo was good at faking a smile, but he did not exactly feel as confident as he claimed to be to his sisters.

He hated being stuck in the wheelchair, as it made everything basic like getting on the couch or the bath so much harder.

His secret companion never bothered to help him, just laughed almost mockingly in his face each time Ichigo failed at doing something. Ichigo would glare at the man, only getting a vicious grin in return. Hell, at times the bastard moved some stuff too far up for him to reach just to mess with him. Initially, Ichigo had thought he would be able to extract some info out of the blue haired menace, but he’d been stone-walled in that aspect, as Grimmjow refused to talk to him, aside from his mocking comments and snickers, or less-than-subtle threats uttered at him each time he got a visitor in his house.

 _”Tell ’em and I’ll rip your head off,”_ was the classic one.

It was not doing any favors to Ichigo, being on eggshells in his own house, not able to leave much due to his state. It was not the threats that freaked him out though, the man dished those out like it was a natural thing for him to do. It was the nights, namely the fact the man would often stare at him while he slept. Ichigo always pretended he was out cold, but he could feel the blue eyes glaze over his form almost every time now he went to bed.

Grimmjow had never done anything, but Ichigo was not going to trust a man who could kill him with a simple lightning-bolt through his chest anytime he wanted.

He sighs, rubbing his eyes.

Then, Ichigo feels his skin prickle unpleasantly, indicating the man had come out of hiding. What he did not expect was the hand against the back of his neck, feeling the hair there like it was the most normal thing for the man to do.

”Your family is loud as fuck.”

The man states casually, glancing down at him. Ichigo refuses to look at the man, namely because he was slightly intimidated by the hand on him. Grimmjow had not gotten up close and personal like this after the initial threats upon his arrival, but now he was standing right behind Ichigo, fingers rubbing his scalp in a manner that managed to be even more threatening than obvious violence; this kind of gentle touch was unnerving, because it could change at any time, and Ichigo had no clue when or how.

It was the knowledge that it could easily change that made it terrifying, because he had no way of knowing when it was coming, only that it could.

”M’guessing it’s the mom then, huh?” Ichigo now dares to glance up at the man, who was looking down at him with half-closed eyelids.

”The hair.” Grimmjow states simply, his fingers digging further into the orange locks, making Ichigo shiver lightly, and he turns his gaze away quickly. It almost felt like the man was contemplating on ripping his hair clean off his head, his grasp was so firm.

”What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” Grimmjow chuckles at him, clearly amused by Ichigo’s tense silence.

”I’m just wondering what the hell you are doing.” He finally comments, keeping his gaze at the window and the streets outside. There weren’t many people around right now, probably due to the rainy weather.

His heart then skips a beat as he feels the man lean closer suddenly, his breath brushing over Ichigo’s ear.

”What do you think I’m doing?”

He tugs on Ichigo’s hair, forcing him to tilt his head back a little, exposing his neck that still had a bit of a burn mark on it from Grimmjow’s attacks.

”Based on what I know of you, I’d say you’re trying to intimidate me.” Ichigo deadpans, ignoring the way his heart beat in his chest.

He could almost feel Grimmjow’s teeth graze his skin, and his hair stands to an end, as if he’d received a small, mostly non-painful static electric shock.

”Tsch, that’s too easy with ya.” The man snorts and pulls away after a moment, letting go of Ichigo’s hair and stalking towards his kitchen. Ichigo rubs his neck, noting from his reflection on window surface that there was a small mark on the spot Grimmjow’s teeth touched him, perhaps caused by the crackling shocks that the man was putting out almost constantly.

It was a strange detail that Ichigo had noticed; it almost felt like Grimmjow could not fully turn off his power, leaving him with a constant, barely visible aura of lightning, which mostly just made your hair raise up to its end on your limbs the second he got too close to you. Perhaps Grimmjow could not control his powers as well as it initially seemed like.

”How much longer do you plan on staying?” Ichigo asks as he turns to look at the man with a frown. Grimmjow shrugs, grabbing a beer can from the fridge and popping it open.

He drank a lot, Ichigo had noticed; Ichigo was almost out of liquor, when normally it could take him up to several weeks to down it all. When asked about this by Renji the other day, Ichigo had simply stated that the alcohol dulled the hurt in his legs, which Rukia then had scolded him and told him to use proper medication instead.

There had been worried glances shared between the two, and Ichigo had a feeling there was another reason they worried about the sudden rise in alcohol usage in his house, but neither of them had said anything to it, for now.

Talking about alcohol, Ichigo had noted that Grimmjow’s tolerance-level was insane.

Perhaps it had something to do with his powers; lightning types tended to have faster metabolism as far as Ichigo could remember from school, making them near immune to alcohol.

”I’ll leave when I feel like it.”

Ichigo rolls his chair closer to the man, until there were just few feet separating the two.

”It sounds a bit like you don’t have an actual plan on what to do next.”

Grimmjow slams the fridge door closed and turns to look at him annoyed, drinking his liquor. His eyes were slanted in an angry, sharp scowl, and Ichigo felt the prickling around his skin intensify.

”None of your fucking business.”

Ichigo frowns refusing to back down, it was his house after all.

”I can’t have you just loitering around my house for all eternity, drinking away all my stuff like some drunkard.”

Within a second, Grimmjow was on him, hand grasping his throat painfully as lightning crackled around the man. Ichigo grasps the strong arm, feeling his hands prickle unpleasantly as he touched the man’s electric-covered skin.

”Don’t. Fucking. Patronize me, Kurosaki. I could kill you with my pinkie if I felt like it, and burn this shithole down within few seconds.” His voice was low and cold, reminding Ichigo that yes, he could, and yes, he probably would too if pushed too far.

”Still. I don’t really get your purpose of hiding here. I did not take you for a coward at first.”

That was the wrong thing to say.

Swiftly, the man yanks him off his chair and throws him to the floor, making Ichigo yelp in pain. Grimmjow then plants a foot to his throat, adding enough weight to it to cut off his air momentarily. Ichigo tries to ignite a flame on his hand to throw it at the man, but then a sharp electric shock courses trough his body, making him twitch uncontrollably for a moment, before slumping to the floor in a paralyzed heap. Grimmjow lifts his foot off of him, making Ichigo splutter and cough out, gasping for air. He then kicks Ichigo in the gut, making him groan as lights danced around his eyes.

”Say that again, I fucking dare you.” The man growls lowly at him, before turning on his heels and walking away, disappearing somewhere within his house.

Ichigo just lies there, staring at his roof for a moment, waiting for the pain to subside.

Given he was already injured, Grimmjow’s harsh treatment felt worse than it probably should, and it took him a while before he dared to push his upper body off the floor, and somehow scramble back into his chair.

His head spun badly, and his hands still twitched from the electric shock given to him.

Ichigo just slumps to the chair for a moment, breathing in and out evenly. Eventually, the aching subsides, and he is able to open his eyes again. There was a fresh burn on his neck now, and Ichigo rubs it irritated: coming up with an excuse for that one would be hard if somebody decided to stop by soon.

Also, Ichigo figured it was better for him to not call the man a coward from now on, if this was the reaction he was going to get. There was no way he could extract any information put of Grimmjow if he kept being hostile towards Ichigo.

With a sigh, he rolls himself to the small corner that worked as his home-office, and checked through the files splayed on the table.

They were all stuff he knew about already, namely files on Grimmjow and other people related to Aizen. The blue haired man had seen them, but never commented on it in any way. He had smirked a little though, when spotting the photo whose story Ichigo knew of.

Crazy bastard.

 

 

 

The next morning, Ichigo rolls into the kitchen, putting on some coffee for himself.

Grimmjow was sitting lazily on his couch, drinking something again. Honestly, it began to concern Ichigo, as he was fairly sure the amount Grimmjow was drinking was not normal for most people. Despite what the man said, he felt that Grimmjow did not actually have any clue what he was gonna do. His pride would not let him agree on letting the Guard help him - hell, they would be reluctant after what he did - and showing his face out there would likely result in death by Aizen’s loyalists.

After the coffee is done, Ichigo rolls to the couch and manages to scramble to sit on it, putting his coffee cup to the table.

For a moment, neither of them spoke, with Grimmjow keeping his gaze at the TV that was showing news coverage about the clean-up efforts still going on at the Guard HQ site.

”Shoulda have guessed what the hell that bastard was plannin’; the explosives were remote controlled.”

Grimmjow mutters out suddenly, drinking his beer with a disinterested look. He sounded awfully passive now, compared to his initial anger of the incident. Ichigo contemplates it for a moment, and then decides to try and see if he’d be more open for a conversation right now.

”So you put them up?”

”Yeah. They were supposed ta’ put them around, while I distracted you morons.”

Ichigo decides not to bite at the jab, knowing it could end badly.

”I suppose the plan was not to detonate them while you were still inside.”

Grimmjow snorts, drinking from his can, still gazing at the Tv screen dully. ”They said we were supposed ta’ do it using the remote control we had once we got out. Shoulda have known better.” Ichigo considers his words for a moment, then figures, perhaps being sympathetic right now could work.

”I....I’m sorry it happened. You clearly cared for those three.”

Grimmjow remains quiet for a long time, and Ichigo holds his breath, wondering what was to come next. Then, the man just snorts, tilting his head to look at him.

”Be glad yer more use to me alive than dead; I still wanna kill you for knocking them out for too long and snuffing their chance at surviving.”

Ichigo could again point out that Grimmjow had chosen to leave them behind, but he wisely said nothing; the man had probably assumed his companions could do their jobs as usual.

”I suppose that’s fair.” Ichigo states simply, drinking his coffee.

He could feel the blue eyes still stare at him, and it was making him uneasy. Ichigo refuses to show this however, just focusing on his coffee for now. After a moment however, he could not hide his unease and turns to look at the man with lift eyebrow.

”Is there something on my face?”

”How the fuck are you so calm?”

Ichigo blinks and turns his full focus on the blue haired man now, who was peering at him with a deep frown.

”Anybody else would be peeing their pants if I sat this close, yet yer acting like everything’s normal. It pisses me off.”

Ichigo huffs, unable to stop himself. ”You might be overestimating your intimidation skills.”

 

Grimmjow is on him within seconds, making Ichigo drop his coffee and spill it to the carpet. He grabs the hand holding his throat, staring up at the fierce blue eyes. Lightning sparked around Grimmjow again, and Ichigo’s hair stood to an end all around his body, but he refused to show any hints of the fear he felt.

”You might wanna watch that mouth of yours, because I’m real tempted at ripping your vocal chords just so I don’t have to hear that whining again.”

The man hisses at him, tightening his grip around Ichigo’s neck enough to make him cough. The orange haired male just stares up at him, his defiance and lack of fear clearly pissing Grimmjow off further, as the man growls at him, looking like he wanted to bite his head off. Instead of doing that, he gets off Ichigo and tugs him off the couch by his collar, throwing him against the wall. Ichigo slumps to the ground, his head spinning. A foot presses against his throat again, and Ichigo was barely able to see Grimmjow, as his vision had gone blurry again.

”Stop running yer mouth, when you can’t even defend yourself, bastard.”

The man growls at him again, voice low and chilly.

He summons a blue ball of lightning into his palm, and Ichigo reflexively closes his eyes, expecting it to hit him. Instead, the attack scorches the wall next to his head, burning the ends of his hair a little. Grimmjow moves his foot away, but kicks him to the gut, making Ichigo stumble forward and splutter out, feeling vomit creep up his throat again. The blue haired man just stares down at him for a second, and then snorts and walks off, leaving Ichigo breathe heavily on the floor.

Gods, if Grimmjow would be triggered this easily, Ichigo would not survive for much longer. His body was simply too weak for him to take this much abuse.

The orange haired male closes his eyes and bites his lip.

No, he was not going to go and give up now. After the room stops spinning, he manages to push himself up, and somehow drag himself back to the couch. The spilled coffee cup had rolled under the coffee table, but Ichigo did not even bother trying to clean it, just slumps to the couch and leans his head back against the backrest.

 

 

Rukia stopped by that evening, filling him in on what was going on.

The Headquarters had been moved to the neighboring town for now, where they’d been taking Menoly. The site of the collapse had been cleared with last bodies removed. Ichigo was glad to hear nobody he knew had died, but it still felt awful to know people had.

Apparently, they had no leads on where Jeagerjaquez had gone.

The second she mentions this, Ichigo felt unpleasant prickling on his skin, indicating that Grimmjow was listening to their conversation, wherever he was.

”Are you okay Ichigo?” Rukia suddenly asks, and the orange haired male looks at her confused.

Without a word, she reaches to touch his neck, which probably had a nast mark to it from earlier assault.

”Oh, uh....I was trying to use my powers again, just to see if I could do it, but I screwed up a little and actually managed to burn myself.” Ichigo explains it away, rubbing his head awkwardly. He could sense Rukia wasn’t entirely convinced, but she chose to say nothing to it.

”I suppose that explains the burn on your wall as well.” Ichigo laughs awkwardly; he’d tried to hide the mark Grimmjow made by putting a magazine stand in front of it, but Rukia had noticed it regardless. ”Unohana did say that most likely your abilities might be a little unstable right now, given the state your body is in. Try to take it easy.”

Ichigo almost wanted to snort; taking it easy would be next to impossible, if his secret roomie kept getting triggered over the smallest of things.

Ichigo was not good at watching his words, so incidents like this were likely to happen again.

”Unohana wants to check on you next week; Renji or someone else will come and pick you up then, okay?” Rukia informs him as she prepares to leave, and Ichigo nods, offering her a smile. ”I wonder what I would do without you guys?”

”Die a horrible and embarrassing death, I presume.”

Ichigo rolls his eyes at that, and waves her goodbye.

 

 

After a few uneventful nights, he woke into a fit of insufferable pain.

Ichigo was not entirely taken by surprise; he’d gone to see Unohana yesterday, and could remember something about her saying that his damaged nerves could perhaps at times send his brain confusing signals, resulting in extreme pain like this. She’d given him medication to handle it in case this would happen.

As Ichigo reaches for the said pill bottle, he realizes that it was not where it should be, on his nightstand. The man groans irritated, knowing full well who had moved it As he sat up and held his stomach, Ichigo spots Grimmjow sitting on the corner, examining the very pill bottle in his hands that Ichigo knew was supposed to be in his nightstand cupboard. As expected, the bastard took it. He attempts to say something, but it turns into a pained groan, and he falls back to the bed, rubbing his eyes.

It wasn’t just the aching from his lower body; it seemed like the pain radiated all over his form, almost if his brain was confused on where the injury was exactly.

Grimmjow watches him rub his eyes and groan for a while, before getting up and pacing next to Ichigo’s bed, throwing the pill bottle in his hand with a sinister grin. Ichigo looks up at him with a glare.

”You look like shit.”

Ichigo says nothing, just tries to reach for the pill bottle, which the man brings far away from his reach. He slumps back to the bed, breathing harshly as lights danced around his eyes. ”M’guessing the lil shocks I gave you confused yer nerves, hence this hurts worse than it should.” Grimmjow notes casually, examining the medication in his hand again, before tilting his head towards Ichigo. He was clearly enjoying the suffering the orange haired male was going trough right now.

”Just...fuck off...” Ichigo manages to mutter between gritted teeth, making the man’s smirk widen.

”Hell naw; I wanna see how long it takes till you beg me to give this to you.”

He keeps tossing the medicine bottle in his hands, grinning like a maniac. Which he was; Grimmjow was a sadistic maniac, it was obvious. Ichigo refuses to give the man the satisfaction of seeing him beg, so he just turns his back to the man, and somehow manages to haul his useless legs in, curling up and trying to bear through the aching. It was so surreal, having his entire form ache despite not being injured enough to warrant it. It was like his entire body was being pokes by dozens of hot needles the same time.

His stomach began to churn soon enough, and Ichigo just knew he was gonna vomit soon.

Eventually, he turns around, and Grimmjow steps back as Ichigo lets his stomach loose, gagging and retching out whatever had been in there. After that he just slumps to his side, breathing harshly as his vision blurred again. His hand was twitching clenching and unclenching itself as if he’d received an electric shock. Ichigo felt his eyes prickle now: he did not feel like crying, but it seemed like his body forced him to, due to the horrible aching he felt.

”Still refusing ta play along?” Grimmjow asks, gazing at his sweaty and pale face.

Ichigo mumbles out something incoherent, probably a curse at the man, and keeps his eyes shut tight, clutching his pillow. A hand grasps his hair and forces Ichigo to turn his head and look up at the man, who seemed to not be bothered by the smell of vomit emanating from Ichigo.

”Say ’please’ and I’ll give you the medication.”

Ichigo just glares at him, feeling that his mind was about ready to knock him out. Grimmjow hums, then let’s go of his head.

”Suit yourself.” He comments with a shrug, but then places the pill bottle on the nightstand so Ichigo could reach it, before walking away.

Ichigo was unable to reach it on time however, as he passed out a second later.

 

 

 

As the morning came, Ichigo’s body at least didn’t hurt anymore. He still smelt like vomit though and his body felt weak. He manages to scramble to his chair, avoiding the spot of dried vomit on the floor and rolls himself to the bathroom. Ichigo manages to wash his face as well as brush his teeth to get rid of the awful taste. He’d have to clean the stain on the floor soon, but he did not feel like crouching to the floor to clean it in further humiliation just yet. Gods, this had been an awful idea, he should have just informed Rukia somehow about the extra presence in his house.

As Ichigo makes his way to the kitchen, he finds Grimmjow sitting on the floor in front of the couch, holding yet another drink in his hand. The orange haired male almost wants to throw a fireball at him, but stops himself, knowing it would be pointless. Instead, he goes to make some coffee for himself, choosing to sit on the kitchen this time, instead of going to the couch.

”And I thought you died.” Grimmjow mutters from the living room floor, bringing the drink to his lips and gulping down a large amount at once.

Ichigo refuses to respond, just drinks his coffee.

”Aww, you still pissy at me for not helping you?”

Ichigo almost smashes his cup against the table, so hard that it leaves a dent. Grimmjow glances up at him with lift eyebrow, but doesn’t react otherwise.

”Pissy? I had an inclining you were sadistic, but last night...”

The younger male bites his lip, trying not to start yelling. His throat did not feel ready for that.

”You deserved that.”

Ichigo glares at him, wanting so bad to throw a flame at that smug face.

”That was a ridiculously cruel behavior over few words, Jeagerjaquez! Are you really that sensitive?!”Ichigo regrets his words instantly, as the man’s gaze darkens, and he gets up, stalking towards the wheelchair-bound Kurosaki.

 

This time, Ichigo does light a fire into his hand, but Grimmjow grasps it, snuffling the flame out quickly.

He examines Ichigo with a stoic face, making the orange haired male hold his breath, suddenly not knowing what would happen next. He was already in weak shape from last night, so if Grimmjow decided to throw him around again, he would have to go to the hospital, or he could even die.

The man forces his hand against the table slowly, reaching for his neck with the free one.

Ichigo keeps his brown eyes trained at the man, his heartbeat thundering in his ears again. A sliver of fear runs through his body at that moment, and Ichigo is unable to hide it this time. Grimmjow clearly caught the flicker in his face, as the corner of his mouth twitches upwards in a pleased grin, but he says nothing. He moves the hand up slowly, away from Ichigo’s neck, making his skin prickle but not actually hurt.

Then, he places his thumb against the slightly shaking lips, and Ichigo just stares at him wide-eyed.

He brushes the finger across Ichigo’s lower lip, then trails the fingers up to his hair, grasping it tightly and forcing Ichigo’s head back, exposing his throat.

Despite having his other arm free, the younger man was nailed to his seat by a sudden burst of unease: he had no clue what Grimmjow was doing, which was far more terrifying than him openly bashing his head against the wall.

He felt the man lean closer, hot breath brushing over his skin, and teeth grazed his neck again. Ichigo bit his lip hard not to whimper out loud; he did not want to show the man any further signs of his unease, as it would just make things worse.

”You gotta stop pissing me off, Kurosaki.”

The man whispers into his ear, nipping it lightly with his sharp teeth. It was the first time he’d referred to Ichigo by his name, and the purring tone he used was somehow freakier than the angry, violent growling.

”You gotta stop getting angry over small things.” Ichigo manages to whisper out, his voice a tony bit shaky.

A sharp jab travels through his body as Grimmjow sinks his teeth to his neck, biting till he broke the skin, making blood run down Ichigo’s neck and shoulder. That’s when he manages to snap out of his paralysis, and Ichigo pushes him off, holding his bleeding neck with an angry stare. Grimmjow just licks the blood away from his lips, staring down at him.

”If ya want any info outta me, you start behaving better than this, Kurosaki.” The man tells him simply, a smug, angry grin plastered on his face.

Ichigo just stares at him quiet, rubbing his neck. The blunette turns and paces back towards the couch, slumping to sit on it now. Ichigo takes a moment to even his breath; his body was still shaking lightly, the involuntary fear having not left his body yet. Ichigo was not scared easily, but being in a wheelchair like this, injured so badly, he felt vulnerable.

He glances at the man, part of him contemplating that he should honestly just inform his friends secretly about his presence.

Perhaps they could take him down before Grimmjow could hurt anybody further. Ichigo was especially afraid for his two innocent sisters, who had zero elemental power in their possession. He did not want Grimmjow anywhere near them.

However...Ichigo’s stubborn side did not want to let this go; he wanted to do something to help then situation, and getting Grimmjow to talk was that one thing he could do.

He’d just have to find a way to talk to the man without angering him.

Which meant he would have to hold his tongue a lot, a task not easy for him; he was used to speak his mind without fear after all.

Ichigo glances towards his bedroom and releases a slow sigh.

He should clean that vomit stain off the floor.

 

 

That night, Ichigo woke with a soaring pain in his body for the second time.

It felt like his legs were being crushed again, like tons of burning needles were stuffed into them. Just why the hell did it hurt this bad? He glances at the nightstand, noting for his irritation that his medication was gone again, stolen by the blue haired bastard to make him suffer most likely. Having no choice, Ichigo somehow manages to scramble onto his wheelchair, and roll to the bathroom where he kept spare medication.

As he tries to reach for it however, the pain becomes even worse, and he bends forward, clutching his stomach and shutting his eyes tightly.

God why did it have to hurt so badly?

He felt like vomiting again.

His body begins to shake, and Ichigo began to worry he might go into shock from the aching. Suddenly, a hand grabs his hair and forces him to sit up and bend his head back. Ichigo’s vision was blurry, but he already knew who it was. Blue eyes peered at him in the dim lighting of the bathroom. Ichigo wanted to snarl at the man, throw a fireball at him, even if it would just be a small flicker, but he felt too nauseous and weak to do so. The man examines him quietly for a moment, his face unusually stoic. 

Then, Grimmjow shifts up to grasp the medicine bottle Ichigo had tried to reach, and for a moment the sickly male thinks he’s going to hide that beyond his reach again.

Instead, the man pops it open and takes out one, slipping it into his mouth so Ichigo could swallow it. It took some effort without water, but he somehow manages to do so without choking, and for a moment Ichigo closes his eyes again and just breathes out harshly.

He feels himself being pushed out of the bathroom, and next thing he knew strong arms picked him off the chair and plopped him to the bed, dropping him there so he was lying on his belly.

The drop did hurt a bit, but in comparison to everything else, it was nothing.

He feels the blue eyes stare at him for a moment as Ichigo breathed heavily against his pillow; he was not looking at the man but could imagine him grinning like the sick bastard he was, probably enjoying his torment. Then, he feels the bed shift, and realizes that Grimmjow had sat down at the feet end of the bed. Ichigo tries to lift his head to see what the hell he was trying, but a strong hand forces his head back against the pillows.

”Stay still, unless you want me to mangle your body into a worse condition.” Grimmjow almost orders him.

Ichigo wants to respond back with a harsh remark, but his brain shorts out a second before he could do so. He could feel the man rub his feet, his touch unusually gentle. Even moreso, Ichigo felt how the aching left his body slowly, replaced by this strange buzzing numbness around the spots Grimmjow touched.

”What are you...?” Ichigo asks, and then flinches as the man gives him a slight shock, probably telling him to shut up.

The orange haired male huffs annoyed, but he finds himself reluctantly relaxing under that touch. He had no clue how Grimmjow was doing it by just rubbing his legs, but there was no denying the pain started to dissipate, faster than it would with just the pills alone. The touch moved up slowly, reaching his thighs, and Ichigo felt his face start gaining color as he felt it. Eventually, all of the aching was replaced by the strange, buzzing, but undeniably pleasant numbness and Ichigo could feel the man lean over him, covering him with his warmth for a second.

”I meant it; stop pissing me off. I ain’t got much time left and would prefer you not making it even shorter.”

The man grunts into his ear, and Ichigo shivers a bit, very aware of their closeness now.

Without even waiting for a reply, Grimmjow shifts away and gets up, stalking away from the room to go sleep wherever he slept in, likely Ichigo’s couch. The orange haired male is left lying there in this strange haze, trying to make sense on what just happened; why had Grimmjow suddenly done that, let alone, what the hell did his words mean?

Ichigo cannot ponder it for long, as sleep claims him soon.

 

 

Back in the quiet living room, the blue haired man sits to the floor, resting his back against it.

After a moment, a coughing-fit hits him, and he covers his mouth to silence the sound. As he moves his hand away, the man is not surprised to find blood there. He releases a slow sigh, tugging on his shirt to expose his stomach.

Yeah, it looked bad.

The black marking was spreading, looking sort of like a burn with lightning marks radiating from it. Grimmjow curses under his breath, leaning his head against the couch. He coughs again, blood dripping from his mouth.

”Six months or less, huh?”

He comments with a sardonic smirk dancing on his lips.


	4. Sympatethic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo learns from his superior a horrifying truth regarding to the so-called-monster lurking inside his home, and is willing to do anything to ease the man's suffering, as he believes not even Grimmjow deserves it.  
> Grimmjow in turn let's him, because he's too tired to care at this point.

That morning, once Ichigo heads to the kitchen with his wheelchair, his mind was full of questions.

He could still remember the strange, gentle behavior from Grimmjow last night. As he recalls the man’s words moments before leaving, Ichigo could not stop wondering their meaning. What had Grimmjow meant when he said he did not have much time left?

Ichigo glances towards the living room, finding the man on his usual spot at the couch, though this time he was not sitting or drinking anything. He seemed to be still asleep, which felt a little careless of him. Technically speaking, he was in the enemy territory and he could get attacked if he lowered his guard. Then again, maybe it was just a further proof of how insignificant of a threat he saw Ichigo right now, not even bothered about falling asleep on his couch. With a sigh, he turns the coffee pot on, contemplating on what he should do.

Ichigo wanted to ask the man about what the hell last night was about, but he was honestly terrified of another violent fit.

It seemed that Grimmjow was able to terrorize him so bad that even his flames refused to cooperate, which was frustrating. He was by no means a pushover, so the situation was bizarre to say the least.

Once he gets his cup of coffee ready, Ichigo turns with his chair to roll over to the kitchen table. That’s when he notices that the man had woken up, and was currently scratching trough his messed up blue hair. It was a shame, how violent he was; Grimmjow was a looker, anybody could tell that. Then again, Ichigo had often noted that outer and inner beauty did not always walk hand-in-hand, if ever.

Eventually, the blue eyes drift towards him, but their gaze seemed unfocused, as if he hadn’t quite woken up yet.

Grimmjow gets up, and paces to Ichigo’s fridge, grabbing the last beer can he had left. The man slumps to sit on the kitchen table as well, popping the thing open and sipping from it.

”I’m not sure if drinking alcohol is the best thing to do on an early morning.” Ichigo comments quietly, his voice cautious. For his relief, all the man does is give him the finger.

They remain quiet for a long moment, until Ichigo dares to speak again, gazing at his steaming mug.

”Last night....how did you...do that?” He dares a glance at Grimmjow, who was pointedly avoiding his gaze, drinking his beer.

”Nerve signals are sorta like tiny electric currents. All I did was manipulate them so they stopped sending your brain incorrect data.” Ichigo blinks, honestly surprised to hear this; he had not expected somebody like Grimmjow to be able to control his element in such a precise level.

The man snorts, clearly reading his thoughts from his face. ”I had to learn that a while back for personal reasons.”

Ichigo lifts eyebrow, but the man refuses to explain himself.

”....Thank you.”

The man looks at him with a dull look, and Ichigo keeps his gaze at his mug, drinking from it. He had to word this carefully, not wanting to trigger another violent fit from Grimmjow.

”For doing that. I don’t know why you did it, and I am not expecting you to explain it to me, so all I am going to say is thank you.” Grimmjow remains quiet for a long while, examining him with his blue eyes.

”You were whining in your sleep, it was so loud it pissed me the hell off as I couldn’t sleep.”

Ichigo looks at him questioningly, drinking his coffee; he had a gut feeling that was not the whole story.

”The painkiller woulda not have worked fast enough.” Grimmjow states simply, gulping down half of his drink at one go. Ichigo still felt he was leaving something out of it, perhaps a sign of sympathy the man did not want to admit. He did not want to admit he'd began to feel bad for Kurosaki and how badly he seemed to be in pain.

Grimmjow was a sadistic bastard, he knew it, everybody knew it, but even he had his limits. 

 

The phone interrupts the strangely tentative morning they were having, and Ichigo responds to the call, feeling the blue eyes lock on him instantly and listen closely what was being said.

”Ah, hey Rukia, what’s up?”

_”Ichigo, do you think we could come and pick you up; Ukitake-san finally has time to hear your side of the story.”_

Ichigo blinks, surprised; indeed, he had not been able to tell what had happened from his perspective as they’d never made it to their bosses, and after that attack Ukitake had been too busy to talk to him.

The young man glances at Grimmjow, whose finger was tapping the table surface, lightning sparking around his hand. Ichigo swallows down nervously, and turns his gaze away.

”Sure, okay. My mind is a little hazy about all that by now, but I can try and give him the rundown.”

_”Good, Renji and I will be there in half-an-hour.”_

 

Ichigo thanks her and closes the phone, releasing a slow breath. He cautiously turns to look at Grimmjow, whose glare was still locked on him.

”Our boss wants to hear my side of what happened before the collapse.” Ichigo explains, trying to remain as calm as possible.

Grimmjow just examines him quietly, electricity still sparking in his hand. It was positively unnerving; one wrong word and the man could be sent into another violent frenzy. ”Just that. Nothing else.” Ichigo states firmly, hoping the man would take that as he was still going to keep his end of the bargain.

Grimmjow still says nothing, his eyes fixed on Ichigo. After a moment of silence, he gets up and walks to his side, making the young Kurosaki tense in his chair, watching the man’s every move. The blunette stops in front of him, hands in his pockets. Ichigo was cornered right now, between the man and the corner he’d stupidly rolled his chair on as he wanted to reach the coffee-pot directly, resting on the counter behind him.

Grimmjow reaches up, making Ichigo flinch reflexively, but instead of grabbing his throat or hair, the man places his hand on the said counter behind Ichigo instead, leaning closer so they were face to face.

”Keep that in mind.” He says simply, and then leans back, his fingers brushing against Ichigo’s neck as he pulls back and walks away, slumping to his usual spot at the couch.

Ichigo releases a deep breath, his heart racing a mile a minute.

 

 

 

”Good to see you Kurosaki-kun.” The white haired man greets Ichigo as Rukia rolls him into the room. Ichigo just nods and smiles.

”Same, Ukitake-San.” The man glances at his legs, and his gaze turns sympathetic.

”I am utterly sorry that this tragedy has befallen you; I trust that Unohana tried her best.”

”Yes, I think she is still trying, but it looks bad.”

Both men go quiet for a moment, but eventually Ukitake gestured Rukia to push Ichigo closer, and then leaves the room. The woman nods and does as requested, giving Ichigo an encouraging squeeze to his shoulder before heading out and closing the door behind her.

”So, you probably know why I’ve summoned you here.”

Ichigo nods. ”You wished to hear what happened directly from me.”

”Indeed; if you please could recount what occurred before the building collapsed, that would be brilliant.” The man pauses, and then offers him an encouraging smile.

”If it is too hard to speak of...”

”No, it is fine.” Ichigo reassures the man, before brushing trough his hair with a sigh as he recalls the events from that day yet again.

He describes Ukitake the initial chat in the interrogation room, Grimmjow’s escape, and his encounter and battle with the three underlings, before facing off against the lightning elemental himself.

”That was brave of you; based on our knowledge Jeagerjaquez-san is stronger than you.”

Ichigo makes a face, having to admit that. ”He did wipe the floor with me. I’m surprised he didn’t kill me off the bat.” The orange haired male muses, though he knew why as he glanced at his legs; Grimmjow likely thought he was suffering enough as it was, death would be too quick of a release.

”I must say; his actions are rather rash for somebody in his position.”

Ichigo lifts eyebrow at that, and Ukitake sighs, rubbing his eyes.

”You’d think Jeagerjaguez would want to be more cautious with his abilities, given the state his body is in.”

”What do you mean?” Ichigo asks, baffled about Ukitake’s words.

The man pulls out a file, and shows him a photo. It was about Grimmjow, in what looked like some sort of medical facility. ”That picture was taken six months ago by an undercover agent.”

Ukitake says simply, watching as Ichigo examines the photograph.

The man had his back turned to the camera and he was shirtless. He was mostly fine, except the strange black mark on his lower back. It looked like a burn of sorts, but with lightning like vein marks sneaking out of it. Ichigo felt something tug at the back of his head, almost if he knew what that strange marking was, but could not put a finger on it right now.

”That marking is a sign of Elemental’s body breaking down slowly.”

Ichigo blinks and looks up at Ukitake, who shows Ichigo his arm. It was covered in similar black markings; he’d seen it before and knew what it meant.

No wonder what he saw on Grimmjow’s body in that photo felt familiar. Ichigo’s eyes widen, and he looks back at the photograph, understanding it's darker, inevitable meaning.

”So...you mean...”

”In all likeness, Jeagerjaquez is dying. His body cannot handle the intense energy output his powers cause, so he probably won’t even have a year or a half left.”

Ichigo could hear sympathy in the man’s voice.

One could find it strange, aimed towards a dangerous, violent criminal, but Ichigo knew where he was coming from; overloading was slow and painful way to die, your body literally burning itself slowly, damaging your insides until you were nothing but ashes. At least, this was the case when it came to elements like Grimmjow’s. Each element had its own twist on the death, but they were always slow and agonizing.

Ichigo now understood the man’s words; the more he made Grimmjow upset, the more he’d end up using his powers due to his near uncontrollable temper, and that in turn, made him suffer.

And as he suffered, his mood got worse. It was a horrible witch-circle.

”It would be good for us to find him before his time runs out; the information he has could be valuable, though I personally want to also ease the pain he must be going through, given I know how it feels.”

Ukitake comments with a sad smile. He’d always been a sympathetic person, and while Jeagerjaquez was a dangerous criminal, he had not chosen to die a painful death like this.

Ichigo feels his mind nag at him; he should tell Ukitake about Grimmjow being in his house, but something makes him hold his tongue.

It was not fear for the safety of his loved ones, nor some sort of spite towards the man. As much as he was a violent bastard, Ichigo did not wish such suffering to anybody. He’d never felt the aching these people would feel, but he’d been described it by some, and it always made him physically flinch, as it always sounded so bad. He’d seen Ukitake-san on bad days; it was heartbreaking to look at.

Ichigo looks up at his chief, pondering his options. He suddenly realizes that he wanted to talk to Grimmjow first.

Given the way he’d been betrayed already, Ichigo did not wish to stab him in the back as well. He'd promised to keep quiet, so he'd keep that promise.

”Do you have any ideas on where he might be?”

Ichigo remains quiet, and then shakes his head.

”No, sir. I don’t really know how crazy violent bastards like him think.”

Ukitake hums at that with a slight smile.

 

 

 

 

Rukia brings Ichigo back in his house, and the young man glances around nervously, but as per usual, Grimmjow was hiding somewhere. The woman gives him a look but says nothing, putting the groceries they’d picked for Ichigo on the way back to the fridge and cupboards, including a bottle of sake Ichigo had requested her to take. She’d lift eyebrow at him concerned, to which Ichigo had simply stated it was there in case Renji or his dad would come by for a drink as they both liked stronger alcohols compared to Ichigo.

The woman was lightly skeptic, probably because of the curious speed of which his beer had vanished. She still says nothing however, clearly unsure on how to ask about it.

”Really, I’m fine. I’m not drinking myself stupid if that’s what you are thinking.” Ichigo tries to reassure the woman, who just huffs and shakes her head, squeezing his shoulder before she left.

 

Once she was out of the building, Ichigo felt a familiar prickle on his skin, and as he turns his head, he finds Grimmjow stand on his bedroom doorway.

His face was stoic, and there were bags under his eyes. In fact, now that Ichigo examined him closely, he saw a lot of signs that the man wasn’t well, signs he’d missed before. Without a word, Ichigo pushes his chair to the cabinet Rukia had put the liquor in, but of course it was too far for him to reach. Grimmjow appears behind him however and takes it, looking at the bottle and then down at him with lift eyebrow.

Ichigo just nods towards the table and the man walks there, grabbing a glass and sitting down, pouring himself a drink. Ichigo brings his chair beside the table as well and just watches the man drink quietly, waiting in silence.

”How long?”

The man glances up at him, then seems to get what he was referring to.

He chuckles out quietly, sounding slightly bitter.

”Who told you, or did you see it?”

Ichigo sighs and brushes his hair, gazing at his lap. When he speaks, his tone is soft. ”Ukitake-San suffers from a similar condition. He showed me a photo of your....of _it._ ”

Grimmjow hums but says nothing at first, drinking his liquor.

”Six months or less. M’already coughing out blood and shit.” He finally answers the question, sounding awfully passive given they were talking about his potential, painful death. Ichigo gazes at him, sympathy in his eyes.

The man glances at him irritated as he sees it.

”Don’t need your fucking pity Kurosaki.” He growls at him, but doesn’t seem interested in throwing Ichigo around right now, just drinking his sake.

The orange haired male just keeps gazing at him quietly; he could only imagine how much in pain the man was right now.

Whatever he’d suffered in Grimmjow’s hands, it was likely nothing compared to that.

At least, his pain had been temporary.

Ichigo sighs and moves away in his chair, deciding to make some tea for himself. The teabags and everything he needed were low enough for him to reach easily, so it did not take him long to have a steaming cup in his hands. As he turns to look at his companion, Ichigo notices the man was examining him again with a stoic look.

It was always unnerving, given how during those moments, Ichigo had no clue on what the man was thinking.

Normally you could see it from his face, but not now.

 

 

 

 

That night, Ichigo’s nerves decided to make his brain think he was a pin-cushion again.

Ichigo groans and shifts, attempting to reach his medication. He soon realizes there was a shadow looming over him, and as he looks up, he finds Grimmjow standing beside his bed, holding the pill bottle in his hand again. Ichigo just looks up at him, his vision slightly blurry and blistering from the aching. The man says nothing, placing the medication back to the nightstand, before shifting to sit at the feet end of Ichigo’s bed again.

He pushes the covers off him, and the younger male knew what he was up to. Ichigo was lying on his back now, and he could see the man start rubbing his aching limbs again, a stoic look on his face.

Ichigo says nothing, just closes his eyes and enjoys the pleasant numbness spreading across his body.

As the man moves up, Ichigo could not stop but release a quiet, pleased sigh.

There was this strange calmness around them right now; Grimmjow’s hostility was gone, and Ichigo did not feel tense at all while being touched by him. Perhaps the man was emitting some sort of aura that was messing with his brain in that sense too, giving Ichigo a false sense of security.

It did not matter either way, as Ichigo enjoyed the quiet moment, glad to not have to fear of Grimmjow lashing out at him, even if just for a brief moment.

Eventually, the warm touch kept lingering against Ichigo’s skin, not to ward off the aching, but to make him feel good.

Ichigo lets out a few more of those sighs, before he feels the man creep up, so they were face-to-face now. Ichigo was not afraid right now, despite the stoic look the man had. He lifts his hand as if in trance, and brushes the blue hair falling on Grimmjow’s face.

”You learned this technique to cope with the pain.” It was not a question.

The man just gazes down at him, examining his face quietly.

”How bad is it right now?” Ichigo asks softly, his voice barely above a whisper as he keeps caressing Grimmjow’s hair.

The man still remains quiet, his gaze focused on Ichigo’s warm brown eyes, although the younger male notes they also dropped lower at times, towards his lips.

”Can I do anything to help?” Ichigo asks next; given his father was a doctor, Ichigo always found himself wanting to help those who suffered like this. Cases like Elemental burn-outs were more difficult though, as pain medication rarely did anything to help them. Using your power as little as possible did, but given the constant prickling aura Grimmjow had, it seemed his case was too far gone for him to do that either.

He was using up his energy passively, unable to stop it from flowing.

Sort of like a giant star at the verge of an explosion; the brighter they burned, the faster they died out; and once the reaction started, there was no stopping it.

All signs pointed to the sad truth that Grimmjow had indeed already slipped past the point of no return.

As Ichigo slips his hand down from the man’s cheek, down his neck and eventually stopping it against his chest, he could feel the usual, slight itching on his skin caused by the aura the man put out involuntarily. He could also feel something else; a slightly fastened heartbeat that mirrored his own.

Ichigo opens his mouth to say something again, when Grimmjow leans closer, brushing his against Ichigo’s parted lips, and the orange haired male sighs again, tilting his head up to respond to the soft touch with his own. Honestly, Ichigo did not know why the hell he was doing it, or why he allowed Grimmjow to do it.

There was just a part of him that could not refuse the silent request, perhaps it was sympathy given it was coming from a dying man.

Perhaps it was something else; it was too early to say.

Perhaps he'd never get the chance to find out, with the limited time there was.

Ichigo feels the man press his tongue against his, and responds to it tentatively, moving slowly as if afraid to do anything drastic, despite part of him wanting to. Eventually, Grimmjow shifts away, breaking the soft, delicate kiss and looks down at him with a tired look. Not physically tired, but rather, mentally.

”Remember that night you nearly vomited your guts out?” Ichigo just nods, wondering why the man brought it up.

”Imagine that, but about ten times worse, and have it happen in waves throughout the day.”

Ichigo felt his eyes widen, and he reaches his hand up to touch the man’s cheek, then stops himself, concerned that touch would make it worse. The man snorts and rolls his eyes. ”I woulda not have done this if that made it worse.”

That was a good point.

Ichigo reaches up again, pressing his palm gently against the man’s cheek.

”Can I do something?” He repeats his earlier question, his voice so quiet you could barely hear it.

Grimmjow leans closer again, lips trailing down his jaw.

”Nothin’ much you can do. Painkillers don’t exactly cut it; drinking doesn’t help either anymore, damn thing stopped working months ago.” The man mutters against his skin and Ichigo finds his hand mingle into the blue locks, gently rubbing and caressing the back of his neck.

”If that’s the case, why have you been drinking so much?” Ichigo questions softly, feeling the man rest his weight against him now.

Grimmjow says nothing to that just lets Ichigo caress his head. The fiery haired male had a sneaking suspicion on the answer, but he decides not to ask about it.

”The only thing that works is adrenaline.” He finally admits, lifting his head to look down at Ichigo with a frown.

”Is that why you’re so....violently unstable?”

The man snorts at that, then frowns, squeezing his eyes shut.

He lifts his upper body off from Ichigo and coughs, covering his mouth. Ichigo watched in slight horror, as he saw bits of red drop from his mouth, covering his hand.

”Yeah. Doesn’t hurt so damn much when on that high.”

”But won’t that make your condition worse?”

Grimmjow looks down at him again, placing the now bloodied hand beside Ichigo’s head.

”Yeah. It does.” He breathes out, sounding a bit like he knew how ridiculous and stupid his situation was, but had stopped caring long time ago. Ichigo turns his head to look at the red-stained hand, lifting his to gently touch it, caressing the knuckles with his fingertips.

”There are other ways to cause a hormonal rush like that, rather than damaging your volatile body further.”

Ichigo comments softly, turning to look up at the man.

”I know. Doesn’t work that well when I do it myself, given I hafta use my power for that, which is counter-productive at this point.” The man states with a self-decimating grin on his face. It soon turns into a cough, and Ichigo pushes his upper body up, placing a palm against the man’s cheek once the coughing dies down.

After a moment of hesitation, he presses his lips against the corner of the man’s mouth, wiping away the bits of blood there.

”You don’t have to do it by yourself.”

Ichigo whispers softly, keeping his gaze locked in those normally bright blue eyes, dimmed by his current state.

As Grimmjow looks back at him, his eyes start to turn slightly predatory, but in a different manner from usual. Ichigo presses his lips against the man’s skin again, hoping that his nerves would not give out on him. He was not entirely certain what gave him this idea, nor why was he even voicing it out; all Ichigo knew was that he wanted to do something to ease Grimmjow’s state, as he was clearly suffering pretty bad right now.

”Ya aware what you’re proposing, Kurosaki?” The man whispers, tilting his head to nip his ear, warm breath tickling Ichigo’s skin.

Ichigo releases a deep breath and pushes back to look at him in the eyes. The blue eyes show clear signs of hunger, the kind Ichigo knew from his teenager years. He’d just never had somebody like this aim that look at him, let alone have him consider on actually accepting it, the want he saw.

”Yes.” Ichigo breathes out after a moment.

 

He gets pushed back rather hardly, a hand grabbing his hair and tilting his head back as the man all but devoured his lips now, kissing him in a manner more fitting to his usual violent temper. Grimmjow nips and bites his lips, even drawing out blood a little as he breaks the skin, his tongue playing with Ichigo’s much more enthusiastically now. Ichigo lets him do it, just bringing his arms up to wrap them around the man’s neck and shoulder.

”You’d really let me screw you just so I’d feel better?” The man growls into his ear in a demanding whisper, and Ichigo swallows down hard, but nods, turning his head to look into the now intensely blue eyes.

”If it’ll make you less likely to have a violent outburst and actually cooperate with me, then yes.”

Grimmjow snorts, and then laughs at his face, pushing back a little.

”A sneaky little bastard, aren’t you? Using whatever tactics you can to get me to talk.”

Ichigo bites his lip; when Grimmjow put it like that, it sounded pretty bad.

Before he could explain himself, the man leans back down to claim his mouth, and his hand tugs on Ichigo’s hair again, while the other one sneaks under him, under his shirt and Grimmjow spreads his palm against the smooth expanse of Ichigo’s back, making the man beneath him moan out loudly against his lips. After a while, Grimmjow breaks away, and they were both panting harshly, with Ichigo’s face flushed, and his eyes dark.

The man growls lowly at him again, tugging on Ichigo’s shirt and getting it off him; he does the same with his, before resuming his earlier actions, only this time it felt so much warmer given the amount of exposed skin. Ichigo lets his hands roam as well, feeling the warm skin beneath his palms. Except, once he reaches the man’s lower back, it feels rougher and colder, and Grimmjow flinches, making Ichigo pull his hand away in shock.

”Shit, I’m...”

The blunette refuses to hear it, just silences him with another kiss, grabbing Ichigo’s wrists and pinning them above his head.

Ichigo gets the hint as the man let’s go, and keeps his arms there, tilting his head to the side as Grimmjow begins to taunt the skin on his neck, making the man beneath shudder and moan slightly. Ichigo had a feeling that perhaps the man was using his power to further tease his nerves, but before he could ask - and potentially scold him for it - a rough tone beside his ear breaks the silence.

”In case you’re wondering; yer sorry ass is naturally fucking sensitive, I would not bother.”

Ichigo huffs, rolling his eyes at that remark, before his brain shorts out again as Grimmjow kisses him, a heated, vicious exchange that made his head spin. He’d never been kissed like this; there was a mixture of raw lust and desperation in it, almost if the blue haired man knew what he was doing probably wasn’t good on the long run, but he was out of time so he didn’t bother holding himself back from taking what was offered to him.

It was passionate as much as it was bleak, and Ichigo responds the kiss the best he could, wanting to ease Grimmjow’s mind at least a little.

Eventually, the man was trailing his lips down his chest, tracing his leaner frame with his tongue, nipping at the skin at times, making Ichigo twitch and gasp as he felt it. He felt strangely trapped, unable to move his legs and keeping his hands over his head to not accidentally cause pain. Eventually, Grimmjow’s tongue was following his waistline, and Ichigo shuddered, kind of surprised to feel that his hips responded to the feeling despite his paralysis.

”It’s yer legs, not your dick that stopped working.” Grimmjow tells him simply, pushing himself up and tugging Ichigo off his boxers.

The orange haired male couldn’t help much with that, given he couldn’t move his legs at all, bit Grimmjow seemed to do just fine by himself, throwing his pants aside once he was done.

Grimmjow pauses for a moment, his gaze raking across the bare form beneath him.

Fuck, he had to admit; Kurosaki was gorgeous.

Even when his legs looked positively mangled, he still had a nice, lean form that it made the man wonder why nobody had latched onto him already. There were no hints of a girl- or boyfriend in his house, nothing of the sort, and he’d searched through the whole damn place. There were also his damn eyes, the warm, brown orbs that looked up at him like he wanted to reassure the man, like he deserved to be reassured in the first place.

Like the bastard thought he deserved a second chance, when Grimmjow knew better than that.

Yet, as much as he hates that look, he cannot stop himself from being seduced by it, wanting to lean closer and mark this little shit with his teeth and hands.

Ichigo began to feel self-conscious underneath that gaze, and he shifts uneasily, licking his lips. Grimmjow smirks at that, leaning over him and nipping his ear, placing a hand against Ichigo’s chest, feeling the quickened heartbeat under his palm. It would be pretty easy to strike a lightning-bolt through it and make the sound stop.

He didn’t want to, enjoying the flush that spread across Ichigo’s skin due to the rush of blood.

”Relax. This’ll be easier fer you that way.”

Grimmjow whispers into his ear, kissing his jaw and neck, slipping the hand down across Ichigo’s frame, making him shudder lightly. Ichigo grasps his hair and tugs the man’s head back to reach his lips, kissing and biting him, coaxing him further, until Grimmjow growls at him and forces his head against the pillows, stealing last bits of his breath away.

 

 

Doing it wasn’t easy, with Ichigo’s legs being near useless, but Grimmjow had no trouble in handling him, clearly more experienced than his fiery haired companion.

Ichigo kept grasping his hair, tugging on it as his lips fell open in a breathless moan. It hurt a bit, setting his body ablaze, but it also felt good. Grimmjow’s hands were firmly planted on his hips, going under Ichigo’s thighs to keep his legs from being in the way. At times he leaned down to silence a louder whimper from his companion, who was trembling beneath him, his body flushed and covered in sweat.

Grimmjow doesn’t spend much time looking however, keeping his eyes closed and focusing on the waves of pleasure that rattled his body.

It did not dull out the damn ache entirely, but made it so much more tolerable.

He slips his arm away, dropping Ichigo’s other leg, and uses it to grab Ichigo’s orange locks tightly, pulling his head off the bed to devour his lips. The younger male kissed back with equal ferocity, completely lost in the moment. He drops him down against the pillows again, and Ichigo lets go of the blue strands, his hands resting above his head again, grasping the bedsheets.

Ichigo’s eyes were closed in a frown, and he was panting harshly, overwhelmed by the sensations rattling his form. Grimmjow was rough with his movement, mirroring his violent tendencies during a battle. Instead of intense pain like he'd go trough during a violent skirmish however, Ichigo’s form was wrecked by intense pleasure. Both had a weakening effect on him, making most of his energy leave his body and turn him vulnerable.

Only difference was, this felt good.

Ichigo near forgot his legs didn’t work; the only thing reminding him about it was the fact they would not cooperate when he wanted to wrap them around the man’s waist. It was frustrating, but that frustration never lasted long enough against the heated waves that ran through him, turning his thoughts into a hazed mess.

Eventually, Ichigo felt the man shudder, and Grimmjow leans down, biting into his neck as he lets loose, and it doesn’t take long from Ichigo to reach his breaking point as well after that, letting out another pleased sound as he created a mess between them.

Grimmjow nearly drops on top of him afterwards, but stops himself with his arms; the younger male could see the muscles straining, as the man resisted the temptation. Ichigo wonders what the man was up to, but soon finds out as the blunette presses his tongue against Ichigo’s belly, licking him clean before slumping against him, breathing harshly.

”M’not gonna get that shit on me.” He comments, gaining a snort from Ichigo whose body felt raw and sensitive right now; he’d near forgotten how it felt, how it would feel afterwards.

His hand creeps up to Grimmjow’s hair again, not tugging, just caressing it.

The man doesn’t react, his head resting against Ichigo’s neck. He’d either fallen asleep or was sunken in thought. Either way, his larger frame was completely relaxed on top of him, and Ichigo hoped he was not hurting as bad anymore. Ichigo begins to feel drowsy under that warm weight, and before he could help himself, he falls asleep, slightly leaning his head against the blue strands.

Once Grimmjow feels Ichigo’s breathing settle down, he climbs off him, tugging his pants back on properly before taking a look at the bare form laying on the bed, head tilted to the side lightly with a hand resting beside his head.

He looked peaceful, but Grimmjow could bet his left arm that the kid would be freaking out in the morning; whenever it was because he regretted this, or because he felt bad for ’taking advantage’ of a dying man or some shit, it did not matter.

Grimmjow walks to the kitchen, getting himself a glass of liquor from the bottle left on the table, before walking back to the bedroom, glass in hand. Ichigo had not moved during this time much, but the redness of his skin had begun to settle slowly. The man watches him quietly for a moment, then sighs and tugs the blanket over the younger male as he begins to shiver lightly due to the chilly air.

Grimmjow drinks down rest of his glass, putting it down to the nightstand, and then leans over the young Kurosaki, letting his breath brush over his ear.

”Don’t pity a dying man, Kurosaki. I ain’t worth that shit.”

Grimmjow gets up, walking towards the door. He leans against the frame as a dizzy-spell passes over him, and waits it to go away. He glances back towards Ichigo, who’d turned his head towards him in his sleep. He was kind of tempted to go back and lie down beside him, but Grimmjow chooses not to. The man was done accepting pity from Kurosaki.

”Do what ya want, I don’t give a fuck anymore.”

He grunts, walking out of the room, not noticing the brown eyes watching after him with a solemn look in them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah. I don't know how describe this chapter. it's more about what's beneath the surface than what's actually happening. Ichigo is just really desperate to help, and in his naivety offers something he probably shouldn't, and Grimmjow accepts it because he's too done with his life to care.  
> I actually kind of teared up a little when I wrote this one, strangely enough. I just felt so bad for Grimmjow, of how bad his mental state is. You'll get to see this more clearly in the next and last chapter - or chapters, if I have to extend this story further than just six chapters, we will see.


	5. Brightest Star

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo attempts to get Grimmjow to finally cooperate properly, but it backfires, and the man goes off the rails.  
> Also, the orange haired officer experiences a miracle, and wonders if he can do the same for the missing man as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...this fic took a darker turn than expected. This chapter is pretty heavy, as it touches upon topics like suicidal thoughts and behavior, so I recommend reading with caution if you are sensitive for such things.  
> I'll also be updating the tags in this story as well, as it took a completely different direction than originally planned.  
> I am not entirely sure if the next chapter will really be the last, as I feel the story might need a bit more time than that, but we will see.

”We still don’t have any leads on that bastard.” Renji huffs out a sighs, going trough all the files they got and all the tips for the third time with Rukia.

For a guy as flashy as Jeagerjaquez, he was hard to find, and the red haired male was getting tired of sitting around like this.

Rukia sighs as well and rubs her eyes, having to agree.

It had been nearly a month since, and they were no closer in finding the escaped elemental, let alone his former boss. On top of that, she was concerned for Ichigo. Rukia was not dumb, she had noticed how quickly the alcohol in Ichigo’s house had begun to vanish, and then that sake-bottle, Ichigo mostly disliked sake! Not to mention, all those little injuries, the burn marks she saw on the walls at times, it was all the more concerning.

”Ichigo must be really frustrated, not being able to do much right now.” Renji comments, wishing their friend was there.

”I...I’m honestly concerned. I’ve noticed some troubling sings.” The man looks up at the black haired woman, whose face was in a serious frown.

”I think he may have started drinking.”

”Has he been drunk when you got there or something?”

”No, but...he’s been drinking his liquor much quicker than normal, and even asked me to buy a bottle of sake for him. He said it was for you or his dad, but somehow I doubt it.”

Renji frowns a little, not liking the implications of her words either. It made sense for Ichigo to feel...discouraged by his injury, but Renji still did not want to believe Ichigo would result in such extreme measures.

”Maybe we should go and talk to him about this.” He proposes, and Rukia hums with an agreeing nod.

They should go see Ichigo soon.

 

 

 

 

Ichigo had not slept well.

Not because his body hurt or anything, but because of the words Grimmjow had told him before leaving the bedroom.

The more he thought about it, the more obvious it was.

The drinking, the random fits of anger, lack of any actual planning or action for the future.

The complete lack of care for most things around him.

Ichigo was dealing with someone on the verge of their death, so it was only understandable he would be depressed. It made him question just how much of the arrogant behavior had actually been faked.

Ichigo had dealt with depression before. Namely, he’d suffered from one himself, back when his mother Masaki had died. Some mornings, he barely got out of bed. His case had not been this severe though, but still.

As Ichigo sits up, he could not stop but wonder; had the illness been there already, or had Grimmjow’s friends dying triggered it. If it was the case, Ichigo felt even more awful now; sure, their deaths were technically not on him, but he still felt responsible. There was also a part of him still wondering why he’d done what he did; it had not been smart or even a logical decision.

Sure, he could try and explain it away that doing something like that would perhaps get him to Grimmjow’s good side and make the man talk finally, but Ichigo knew all too well it was not the real reason.

Hell, in all likeness he’d made things worse, because the man probably took his actions as a sign of pity.

Yes, Ichigo felt sorry for him, he’d seen what overloads could do, the way people would suffer because of them. Of course he’d sympathize.

It was just; Grimmjow was not the kind of man who accepted things like that he saw it as pity, belittling him for his weak state, which was not Ichigo’s intention at all.

 

With a sigh, Ichigo hauls himself to the wheelchair, throwing a blanket around him as trying to put on his pants would be difficult, and he did not feel like it right now. He stops at the door, feeling slight bit of dread creeping up on him; he could not even begin guessing the reaction Grimmjow would be having. It could go either way. Eventually, Ichigo manages to force himself to leave his bedroom, his shoulders tense from expecting the unknown.

As he rolls into the kitchen, Ichigo notes that Grimmjow was not on his usual spot on the couch, but rather he was slumped against the table, empty sake bottle next to him.

What made Ichigo’s eyes widen in worry was the gun beside his hand.

It was Ichigo’s, the man had probably come across it sometime and dug it out from the hiding place. He pushes his chair there as fast as he could, but notices to his relief the man was still breathing. There was no blood anywhere either, but it was clear what had been going on last night in his head. Ichigo picks the weapon up carefully, disarming it faster than he’d ever done before and placing it into the furthest corner of the nearest cabinet he could reach for now.

He turns back in his chair, looking at the out-cold man with worry in his eyes.

For all the things Grimmjow had done, dying like this was pathetic for him.

Men like Grimmjow should be snuffed out in a battle, fighting to their last breath, not hide in a shadowy corner, drowning in liquor and in the end killing themselves by a bullet to the head. Ichigo reaches a hand out and pets the blue hair gently, exploring the texture with his fingertips. For a guy rough with everything he got, manners, battles and even the bedroom, his hair was soft.

After a moment, Grimmjow stirs and lifts his head, looking around with a dazed look, until finally his eyes found Ichigo, who still kept petting the blue strands, brushing some loose ones off his face.

”Don’t.”

He says softly, looking at the blue eyes with a melancholic gaze.

Grimmjow just stares at him dully, as if he wasn’t fully there right now.

”I can see why you’d want to. But don’t. It’s not how people like you should go.”

Ichigo feels his chest tighten, and he licks his lips, trying to keep his voice stable.

”There may not be a chance to heal you, but you still got time. Make the most of it while you still can.”

Grimmjow gazes at him for another moment, then snorts, turning his head away and gazing at the empty bottle in front of him.

”What’s the point? Aizen wants me dead; yer folk likely want the same too. I’m not giving either side the satisfaction of catching me.”

Ichigo places a firm hand on his shoulder, gaining the man’s attention again.

”We do not. When we first captured you, execution was not even close to our minds. We honestly thought you could help us catch Aizen.”

Grimmjow rolls his eyes, then squeezes them shut and rubs them. He probably had a headache from drinking the entire sake-bottle by himself. Even his alcohol tolerance seemed to have a limit.

”And then what? You’d have thrown me to rot in some jail, or deemed me too dangerous to live. Don’t kid yourself Kurosaki, that’s how it would’ve gone.”

Ichigo remains quiet, knowing that Grimmjow may have been right with that.

Still.

He did not want to see the man just... give up.

It did not fit together with the picture of a fierce, cunning fighter that so many people were wary of.

”Then....at least, help me find Aizen. You must know things that can help us find him and put a stop to his business.”

”Why the fuck would I bother helping you?”

Ichigo takes in a deep breath, and looks at him directly in the eyes. ”That way, you can have payback for what he did to you. You can have justice for all this, for him forcing you to even use your power to the point it’s killing you.”

”Aizen did not force me. I was always a little firecracker for a brat.”

Ichigo was honestly glad to see a hint of a smirk on the man’s lips, a sign of life in what seemed to be a dead-man-walking right now. Ichigo manages to shift closer, lifting his hand against the man’s cheek, noting his skin felt slightly cold. Unfortunately, that smile the man had dies down quickly, replaced by the hollow expression he’d had when Grimmjow had first woken up and looked around.

”Regardless. If you help me, you can have that satisfaction of seeing him get his due, before you...before it happens.” Ichigo swallows down hard, and Grimmjow examines him now with almost curious look.

”Why do you care?”

Ichigo pauses; it was indeed a good question. Why was he so bothered about the thought of Grimmjow dying soon or offing himself? Perhaps he was just generally sensitive about the topic of death, given he lost his mum at a young age. Generally speaking, Ichigo was not good dealing with death; he often took it hard if he lost someone, which is why people often wondered why he’d taken such a dangerous profession.

For Ichigo, the answer was obvious; to prevent more people from dying, protect them from those who wish to harm them.

Not wanting to go into that story however, he just sighs and smiles a bit.

”I told you; men like you should go out with a bang like brightly burning stars, not get snuffed out like an old oil-lamp that runs out of gas.”

Grimmjow hums at that, turning his gaze away as another smirk starts appearing to his face.

”That almost sounds like a compliment; you gettin’ soft on me, Kurosaki?”

Ichigo smiles a bit, but says nothing to that comment.

Despite his smile, he was absolutely terrified on the inside, but not for his own wellbeing now. While the man was smirking at him and giving him his usual remarks, Ichigo could tell they lacked bite from them. He searched his brain desperately for something to say, but he was left speechless; he could not really come up with anything to encourage the man to keep going, not when there was a set date for the end already.

This is why most people did not wish to know of their death beforehand, chances were they would stop living before the time came.

”Stop looking so freaked out.” Grimmjow suddenly grunts at him, startling Ichigo out of his thoughts and he looks up at the annoyed blue eyes that examined his face.

”If I’d known how much of a mother-fucking-hen you’d be, I would’ve not bothered to come here.”Grimmjow comments rubbing his head, and then dropping the arm against the table with a huff, staring ahead for a moment as if a thought hit him.

”You’re not used to people caring about you.”

It was, once again, not a question.

Grimmjow hated it how the fiery haired bastard was able to read through him so well, perhaps without even really realizing it himself.

”Of course I’m fucking not! That’s not how this shit works down there.” Grimmjow growls at him, a bit of sparks appearing in his hands. Ichigo tenses and backs away lightly in his chair, clearly scared for another violent outburst. Seeing that made the man’s grin turn sinister, he could not help it; he enjoyed seeing people tremble in fear near his presence.

”On the underground, everybody fends for themselves; weaklings like you will get torn apart in less than a day.”

Ichigo’s face turns into a frown, and he straightens himself, tired of the man’s belittling attitude towards him.

”I am not weak. Compassion is not a sign of weakness; it takes a lot more out of a person to care for others than just themselves.”

A hand reaches for his throat, but it doesn’t squeeze, nor send a shock trough him. Grimmjow just holds it there, a silent threat that needed no words. Ichigo just held his gaze, lifting a hand up to grasp the strong arm reaching for him. There was uneasiness lingering beneath the calm brown surface, but Ichigo held it in.

”You may have wan that fight between us, but I’m not the one with a gun in hand, aiming it at myself.”

He gets thrown against the wall the second those words left his lips, losing the only garment he was currently wearing, and Grimmjow’s grip on his throat tightens again, as he glares at Ichigo with new fire in his eyes.

Ichigo was honestly happy to see at least a little bit of life there, even if it had to be dragged out like this.

”Watch yer fuckin’ mouth, Kurosaki!”

The man snarls at him, blue sparks igniting all around his body. Ichigo could see a hint of pain in the man’s eyes, but Grimmjow was clearly ignoring it. The orange haired male just grabs the arm holding him up against the wall, looking at the man with resolute eyes.

”Stop looking at me like that!”

Grimmjow hisses at him, bringing his face closer until Ichigo could feel the ragged breath brush over his face. He could sense how Grimmjow’s body was strained, as he was trying to hold back the burst of energy that wanted to escape from him due to his fury.

”Why is it so bad for you if somebody wants to help you?”

”I don’t fucking _need_ your pity!”

Ichigo flinches, feeling the first spark enter his body.

”I am not. You don’t deserve that kind of luxury.” Ichigo hisses back at him now, eyes flaring up, as well as his hand; eventually his grip is so hot that Grimmjow has to let go of him, cursing at the fresh, palm-shaped burn on his arm.

Ichigo slides down to the floor as his legs refuse to let him stand, and he uses his arms to not completely go down to the ground.

However, he has to quickly dive down and roll away as an electric coated kick lands against the wall, on the spot his head had just been. It leaves a large crater on his wall with burned edges, and Ichigo scoots back now, realizing that he’d just triggered what he had wanted to avoid.

Grimmjow was pissing _mad_ , and what was worse, it was the angriest he’d seen the man since the first time they met.

His body was glowing with a blue aura, the intensity of the sparkles made his skin go goosebumps even from meters away, and the electricity in the entire building began to flicker. As he spins around to glare at Ichigo, his eyes were filled with such fury that the fiery haired teen knew he was in trouble. His gun was still inside the cabinet, behind Grimmjow’s furious form so he could not reach it.

Ichigo dives out of the way as another lightning streak through the air, hitting the coffee table behind him and charring it badly. He looks around, knowing the situation was bad; he had nowhere to hide, nothing to defend himself with, and furthermore, he was naked. Ichigo was completely vulnerable.

At least having boxers on would make this less embarrassing of a death.

Ichigo manages to dodge another lightning bolt, and tries to reach for another weapon he kept hidden in his TV-stand; a destabilizer that could paralyze any elemental and their powers. Unfortunately, he never reaches it as a strong arm grabs his neck the next second, throwing him against the opposite wall now, making Ichigo cough blood. He could also feel the pins in his legs shift, indicating that the healing bones could be in trouble soon.

Not that it mattered, as Grimmjow held him up again by his throat, clearly intent on killing him now.

There was that sadistic grin plastered on his face, and the predatory look was worse than ever.

However, Ichigo could also tell the man was panting, as using such excessive amount of power had to be bad.

If his legs would’ve worked, Ichigo could have targeted the black burn-like mark on the man’s lower body, but given his situation, there wasn’t much he could do. Ichigo attempts to throw a flame at his face now, but then a painful shock travels down his system, making Ichigo nearly scream in pain, before biting his tongue accidentally.

It only lasted but a moment, but once the energy vanished, his body was limp, twitching all over, and his vision was blotchy and clouded.

There was a taste of blood in his mouth, and he coughs it out, drops of red running down his jaw. He was still alive only because of his elemental physiology. Another shock like that, and he’d be biting the dust. His hand, previously grasping the strong arm holding him up the wall, drops uselessly to the side.

Suddenly, the arm holding him up let’s go, and Ichigo stumbles against the man, coughing out more blood and getting it on him.

He doesn’t fall to the floor however as strong arms hold him up, and the next thing he knew something pressed against his bloodied lips, a kiss far softer and gentler than what happened just a second ago.

A tongue flicks into his mouth, tasting the blood with clear enthusiasm, before the warm press vanishes, and he’s dropped to the floor.

Grimmjow looks down at him, licking Ichigo’s blood away from his lips, strangely solemn look on his face.

” _Don’t_ look for me.”

Ichigo watches, as the man walks away, leaving him in a bloodied, injured heap to the floor.

Moments later, he passes out.

 

 

 

 

 

There was a familiar beeping noise nearby him, indicating that he was in a hospital.

Ichigo was expecting to be hit with a wave of pain and nausea soon, but interestingly enough, all he felt was strange, numb buzzing. It was reminiscent of what Grimmjow had done to help him with his pain fits. Grimmjow. Slowly, Ichigo’s mind began to clear, and he recalled back on what happened.

He’s said something wrong, and the man had gotten beyond angry.

Yet... he had not killed Ichigo.

The young man could still remember the soft touch against his lips, the melancholic look on the man’s face before he left. What did all that mean?

”Ichigo?”

The orange haired male forces his eyes open.

At first, all he saw was a blur, but soon, he spots a worried Rukia beside his bed for the third time. As she notices he’s awake, the short woman lets out a relieved sigh. ”You did not pick up when I called, so we drove by to check; we found you in a bloody heap on the corner of your living room.” Rukia explains her voice slightly shaky. Ichigo attempts to smile, but it came off more as a grimace.

”We thought...there was a lot of blood, but luckily it looked worse than it was, according to Unohana.”

”...I’m sorry for scaring you guys.”

”You better be you shithead! What the hell happened?”

Ichigo tilts his head slowly towards the voice, finding Renji stomp beside his bed, face a mixture of anger, relief and worry. Ichigo opens his mouth to answer, but the words get stuck on his throat. He’d kept quiet for so long, that it was hard to talk about it. Now however, it did not matter. Grimmjow had clearly left with no intention of returning, based on his words.

”Grimmjow. He...I pissed him off so he beat me up.”

”Woah, hold up, that fucker attacked you in your house?!”

Ichigo shakes his head, and proceeds to explain the events of the last month or so. Both of his friends stare at him with widened eyes, and Rukia’s expression shifts into something that implied a loud scolding rant was coming.

”You let a dangerous fugitive stay in your house, without telling us? He could’ve killed you, almost did looking at the injuries you have!”

”I thought I could get info out of him; it was not like there was anything else I could do with my legs busted!”

”You should have told us!” Rukia fires back, and Ichigo sighs, rubbing his eyes.

He did not want to argue with his friends. Hell, he did not have time for it. Grimmjow was out there, likely suicidal, and Ichigo knew he would not forgive himself if the man went and offed himself before he could find him.

”So...the gun was out because you needed to cover yourself?” Renji questions and Ichigo shakes his head, his voice becoming quieter now.

”He contemplated on shooting himself, twice. I only saw the second time though, this morning.”

The two look at each other surprised, then back at Ichigo, who kept his gaze in his lap.

”He was the one drinking so much. Hell, he downed that sake bottle all by himself last night after I was asleep.” Ichigo releases a shaky breath, and looks up at them, almost desperate now.

”He’s dying. Ukitake-San showed me that he has the sign of an overload in his body. He was in so much pain at times that he kept coughing out blood.”

This seemed to surprise the two even further, although Renji looks less sympathetic. ”Given what he’s done, the bastard probably deserves it.”

”Renji!” Rukia scolds the redhead, understanding why Ichigo looked so alarmed about this.

As a son of a doctor, Ichigo had seen people suffering from this condition, not just their chief. It was not the kind of suffering you wished upon anybody.

”He beat Ichigo up, twice, has probably been torturing him while he was in there, and now you wanna feel sorry for him?! Hell, given the fact Ichigo was naked, who knows what the guy was planning to do.”

Ichigo soon connects the dots, realizing what Renji was implying.

”I was like that from the start; I had not put clothes on at that point yet, I just had a blanket.”

Renji lifts eyebrow at that, clearly confused on why Ichigo would allow himself to be in such vulnerable state - on top of being partially immobile - nearby a dangerous man like Jeagerjaquez.

”Still. There were some...marks on your body that were worrying.” Rukia pipes in after a moment, and Ichigo suddenly realizes, that yeah, he probably had those from the rough handling Grimmjow gave him last night, markings that did not look like they were caused by a fight. Ichigo sighs and hides his face, knowing he’d have to tell them the whole truth now.

”It’s not what you think.” He comments after a moment, releasing a slow sigh.

”He did not assault me. I... slept with him voluntarily.”

As expected, the two stare at him, like they were questioning his sanity. Hell, Ichigo was doing that as well.

”Why the fuck would you even consider...”

”He was in so much pain that evening. I could tell from how tense he was. He said that....” Ichigo releases another, deep breath and steels himself. Explaining his reasons behind this was hard, namely because Ichigo was not sure what they were.

”He said that the reason he’s so aggressive, is because the adrenaline rush numbed the pain. It was the only thing that worked at this point.”

”How the hell did that lead into you sleeping with him?”

Renji questions, understandably. ”Because it was counter-productive; the more he fights and uses his power, the worse his condition would get. So I thought, if a hormonal rush would help lessening the aching....”

Rukia sighs in turn now, rubbing her eyes. ”You wanted to ease his condition, and given the chemical effects sex can have to one’s body...”

Ichigo just nods helplessly, rubbing his neck.

”I thought....if he would not be in such pain constantly, maybe he’d be less aggressive, and even talk to me about what he knew.”

”I somehow doubt that was the main reason you did it.” Rukia comments with a soft, sad smile, and Ichigo could not stop but nod with a sigh.

”Well, that shit plan clearly didn’t work, just left you with a night of regret.” Renji concludes, but for his surprise, Ichigo shakes his head.

”The only thing I regret is angering him so bad he decided to leave.”

Renji lifts eyebrow at that, but Ichigo refuses to explain it further.

”So. To recap; we got a dangerous, potentially suicidal metahuman elemental on the loose, who in all likeness doesn’t care about casualties.” Rukia comments after a moment and both men turn to look at him. She looked positively alarmed, though tried to keep herself calm.

”Well, in that case, maybe he’ll just go and shoot himself as Ichigo said; he is not necessarily a danger to--”

”Renji.” Rukia just gives him a look, and even Ichigo shakes his head.

”I’ve spent enough time with him to know. Hell, I even said it myself; Grimmjow is the type to go out with a bang. In all likeness, he’ll go somewhere and take a bunch of people with him to the grave.”

Ichigo felt cold dread creep into him as he said those words, slowly realizing just how true they were.

”So we gotta catch him before he does, in all likeness even neutralize the bastard.”

”I am afraid that might be the case.” Rukia states, holding her chin with a thoughtful frown.

” _Wait._ ”

The two turn to look at Ichigo, who was looking at them with widened eyes. ”please, if you locate him, let me try and talk to him first.”

”Ichigo, I doubt your presence will help, given how he assaulted you before he left.”

Ichigo shakes his head, looking at his friends/co-workers firmly.

”He could have killed me. He didn’t. He did not want to.”

”Just because he didn’t want to at that moment, doesn’t mean he won’t, later.” Rukia warns him, but Ichigo had made up his mind already.

The kiss the man had given him before leaving, it meant something, Ichigo was sure of it.

What, he wasn’t sure, but he hoped it would help them stop Grimmjow from killing bunch of innocent people - and himself.

”Please. Let me at least try. I...”

”You don’t have to explain.” Rukia sighs and smiles a bit sadly.

Ichigo was awful with deaths, and always wanted to prevent any if he could, even if the person in question was a criminal. She had a feeling that the night her friend had spent with the man also effected Ichigo’s emotions regarding to the situation, but she was not one to trample on them.

”We’ll inform Ukitake about this. We’ll tell him that you may be able to prevent the worst from happening. I’m certain he’ll give you a chance.”

Ichigo nods, feeling his heartbeat rise in his chest. He was not willing to let Grimmjow die, let alone take innocent lives with him. He still had some life left before the overload would destroy him, and Ichigo would prefer him to live it, even if in prison.

Perhaps it was a selfish thought, but Ichigo couldn’t help it.

 

 

 

 

Menoly sighed, looking through her bag.

She barely had any money left, and she was hungry. After reaching the other town, she’d hidden in the back-street areas. Karakura was much calmer of a place than Hueco Mundo, with less creeps roaming about.

Unfortunately, since it had less crime and criminal areas, it was harder for her to get by. She could have attempted to make contact with the Guard again, but had chosen not to, her trust towards them broken due to the bombing and the event at the woods, where she’d been saved by the very man who hunted her, instead of the officers meant to protect her.

Menoly leans against the wall for a moment; she was in on an abandoned building right now, having taken some shelter in there for a couple of days. There had been a mattress already, probably left by some other homeless person sometime. She tried not to think of all the germs on it as she’d lied down. It was more comfortable than the floor.

Suddenly, she heard a sound from somewhere within the building.

The girl tenses, wondering who’d enter into such a run-down place at this hour. It could be another homeless person, but her gut instinct told her it was something else. She walks cautiously to the door and peeks into the hallway, but sees nothing. Menoly steps out, clutching her back bag and skips along the hallway, heading for the door at the end. It was perhaps for the best to get out of there.

Out of nowhere, a hand slams against the door, forcing it closed again, and Menoly whips around, backing away against it as she was greeted by a pair of blue eyes and a vicious grin.

”Goin’ somewhere?”

Menoly attempts to flee, but the man grabs her by the throat, holding her in place.

”Hey, don’t try ta sprint off when a superior is talking to you, bitch.”

Grimmjow’s tone was casual, but there was a dangerous edge to it.

Menoly just let’s out a scared whimper, too afraid to talk. She grabs the arm holding her, noting that there was a palm-shaped burn on it. A tiny part of her wondered just what happened to the person who’d done that, though she was fairly sure she’d be about to find out.

”I need you ta do me a favor.”

Menoly lifts her hand, attempting to use a wind blast to push him away, but Grimmjow just slams her hand against the door so hard the wooden surface cracks.

”Don’t. _Fucking_. Bother. I ain’t got any patience left for your feeble bullshit, so listen, and do as I fucking say, or I kill you right here, right now.” The man growls at her lowly, his power dancing around him again. Menoly could not stop but notice the way the man was panting, as if he was exhausted. It did not make him any less terrifying or weak however; the unstable look in his eyes indicated that the man had gone completely off the rails now, and was only after one thing; blood.

”I need you ta bring me to Aizen. Without being seen. I know you know a way, there’s no fucking way you’d been able to escape otherwise.”

The girl whimpers again, her breathing so rapid that it felt like she was heading for a panic-attack.

Hell, she was panicking already.

”Do you hear me, woman?” The man hisses at her, a light spark rattling trough her body.

"Y-yes!” Menoly yelps, her voice much higher than normal and she was almost crying now; the girl could not remember the last time she’d been this terrified.

Grimmjow drops her to the floor, but keeps a strong grasp on her wrist.

”If you try anything, I’ll burn you to ashes like that bitch Loly did, only I do it slower than Tousen.”

The man grins at her wickedly, and she swallows down, her eyes wide in her head.

Grimmjow then shoves her forward, and the woman stumbles through the door, knowing she had no way to escape; Jeagerjaquez was stronger and faster than her. It was better to do as he said for now.

The blue haired male follows the terrified woman, using a lot of his willpower to not show the discomfort he was in. His entire body felt like it was burning, and his chest ached like crazy in the area he had the black mark on. Grimmjow knew using his power like this accelerated his demise, but he did not give a fuck anymore. He only had one thing left to do in this world, and that was to extract some sweet ass revenge on Aizen and rest of his goons for their bullshit.

As they walk out into the dark streets, Grimmjow spots a girl with bright orange hair, walking by with what he assumed was her father.

He soon recognizes the child to be one of the sisters of Kurosaki.

So his family lived in Karakura, huh?

As if feeling the look on her, the girl glances towards Grimmjow, and understandably backs away closer to her dad, slightly unnerved, but also curious. The man turns his head away once her father glances towards them, and walks after the blond woman who had not noticed him slowing down, probably too afraid to look behind her.

Grimmjow’s mind drifted involuntarily towards Kurosaki now, and he could still taste his blood on his lips, despite it being hours from it.

He’d almost killed the bastard, but had chosen not to.

He just.... couldn’t.

After the gentleness and care the naive shithead had shown him - something he was not used to - Grimmjow just could not bring himself to end the bastard. He felt indebted to Kurosaki, and his sense of honor wouldn’t let him scorch him to death. So, he’d just knocked him out, with one last stolen kiss that he couldn’t help himself from taking.

Grimmjow felt his mood turn sour, and the aura around him intensified, making the lights nearby flicker and the woman jump, finally looking at him frightened.

”Move.”

He says simply, his body in too much pain for him to bother talking more, or he’d start coughing out blood again.

 _Brightly burning stars went out with a bang_ , huh?

The man feels a maddening grin creep up his face.

Well he’d sure as hell make it a big one.

 

 

 

Ichigo woke up into a weird sensation. His legs were tingling, as if they were numb, like he’d sat on them for too long.

Then, as he attempts to move his legs reflexively to make it stop, he nearly shits himself when they actually _move_.

Ichigo sits up abruptly, and stares at his feet. He could....he could move them, at least a little bit. A nurse steps in the room to check on him, and she blinks confused at Ichigo’s expression. The young man just looks up at her, and nearly demands her to go and get doctor Unohana, twitching his toes. She nearly stumbles out of the room, looking for the said doctor in a hurry. Once Unohana enters, she immediately sees the reason behind Ichigo’s blight; he was currently moving his foot, staring at it in awe. It still felt numb, but he could move it.

”What on earth...”

The doctor muses, then orders the nurse to go get some supplies, so she could take a proper look on what was going on.

”Can you feel this?” The doctor asks, touching Ichigo’s leg with a pen.

”Yeah; it’s kinda faint, but I can.”

”This is....I wonder...” The doctor muses to herself, making some notes. Ichigo pokes his thigh himself, amazed that yes, he could faintly feel it. His legs still felt prickly, but the fact they had some of their actual feel back instead of ghostly aching, or whatever Grimmjow had done with them.

”Kurosaki-kun. I feel I need to ask you a few questions regarding to...the events from the past month.” Ichigo looks up, swallowing down nervously; it wasn’t surprising that Unohana knew of this too, it made sense to explain it to his doctor. He nods.

”I believe that I was told the fugitive used his electric powers on you excessively during these weeks, am I correct?”

”He...did zap me at times, and then gave that big shock before leaving, but it wasn’t like he did it every day.”

The woman hums, making some more notes.

”How much were you in contact with his elemental power exactly?”

Ichigo blinks, baffled by the question. He leans back and thinks it through however, knowing that Unohana had to have a reason of why she was asking these questions. ”Well... a lot I suppose. He was constantly putting out that aura that makes your skin prickle, and then there were those few times he got angry at me...and he also helped me with...uh...when my legs began to ache, he had this technique he used to...help me with it.” Ichigo felt his cheeks flush, but the woman doesn’t comment on it thankfully, just writes few more things up.

”I see...given this recent development, perhaps Dr. Urahara’s theory is correct.”

Ichigo lifts eyebrow at that; he’d heard of Urahara, the man was a famous doctor in their city, as well as an old friend of his dad.

”He had a theory about energy transfer between two similar elementals. So far there is no proof of it, but looking at this sudden development with your case Kurosaki-kun, it seems he may have been on to something.”

Ichigo just blinks, not understanding anything the woman was saying. The doctor notices his confusion and smiles apologizing. ”This is a little difficult to explain, I should probably let Doctor Urahara take a look at you and explain this himself.”

Ichigo just nods, turning his gaze back to his feet.

 

 

Urahara, as Ichigo could remember from their meetings when he was a kid, was an eccentric man with a real sense for drama, and he managed to goof around a bit, making his assistants look for things he already had on him, and then get quite a scolding from the fiery red haired young man who was his assistant.

Eventually though, the man manages to sit down to the chair - backwards - beside Ichigo’s bed, waving at him like Ichigo was a child.

”It’s been a while, hasn’t it Ichigo-san?”

”Urahara, what is going on? Why did my legs start working again?”

”I suppose Unohana-san already mentioned you about my theory?”

Ichigo just nods, informing the man that he had no clue what she’d talked about.

”Ah, you see... a while back, I had a theory that perhaps elementals with similar elements could ’share’ their energy. I’d seen cases like this between twins, even in cases where they did not have matching elements. So, I wondered if it could be done even between people with no genetic connection.”

Ichigo nods, still not getting much of it.

”Basically, if the energy types match, one could help fill the other, like a battery. In some cases, this energy could even perhaps heal some injuries.” Urahara pauses, looking at Ichigo curiously.

”Thunder and fire are actually part of the same elemental family, so when it comes to you and Jeagerjaquez-san, your elemental energies were a pretty good match. Given how much time you spent in the proximity of his radiating power, it is in all likeness that his energy helped your legs to heal.”

Ichigo stares at the man; that was a lot of info to take in at once. But, he began to understand the gist of it.

”Of course, it was likely a pure chance as well, as I’ve tested this with people whose powers are on the same family, and it did not usually work unless there was a blood connection.” Ichigo remains quiet, then notices the way Urahara began to smirk.

It was a mischievous grin, making Ichigo uneasy.

”I believe that the...intimacy you mentioned may have helped nudging the odds at your favor.”

Ichigo felt his face flare up, and he stares up at Urahara with an angry, embarrassed glare.

”Now now, no need to get mad Kurosaki-san. I am not judging you. At that age, with someone as undeniably handsome as him, it was probably bound to happen. Bad boys have their charm after all.”

”That’s not...I didn’t do it because of that!” Ichigo stutters out, his face as brightly colored as his hair now.

Urahara just smiles at him, before turning more serious.

”Now, we need to monitor this development closely. There is a chance you might relapse back to the previous condition, as we have no data to indicate this could be permanent.”

Ichigo forgets about his embarrassment now, feeling unease tug at his gut; he did not want to go back into sitting on a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Then, a thought pops in his head.

”Hey....if this energy transfer thing or whatever it is really works....could it be done other way around?”

Urahara lifts eyebrow.

”I was wondering....if he somehow giving his elemental energy to me helped save my legs, maybe...maybe I could...” The man seems to understand what Ichigo was asking, and he releases a slow sigh, rubbing his eyes.

”In theory, you could transfer your own energy to him, but given the difference in power level, and the condition he is in, in all likeness you’d just end up killing you both. His overloading would become worse, whereas you’d lose too much energy.”

Ichigo frowns, not liking the thought at all.

”Then....if he could move more of his power into me, would that help?”

Urahara looks up, and then holds his chin, gazing away from Ichigo for a moment thoughtfully. There was a glint in his eyes, indicating that Ichigo’s idea had piqued his interest. ”Perhaps...that could work. After all, overloading is about having excessive energy in your body you cannot really handle, and pouring it from a larger containment to a smaller one is easier. Granted it is still risky and could kill you if you get too much of it.”

”But it could work?”

”In theory, you could perhaps stop his overload, but that is a big maybe. We aren’t even sure if your current development will stick.”

Ichigo nods, having nothing else left to say.

His mind was reeling however, at this new possibility.

Perhaps... perhaps he could stop Grimmjow without having to kill him. Perhaps he could even save the man from dying a painful death. The problem was, he did not know how the energy transfer happened exactly, and even if he did, convincing Grimmjow to give up part of his power did not sound like something he’d ever do. Still, Ichigo wanted to try.

He slumps back against his pillows with a sigh once Urahara leaves, staring at the ceiling with a determined face. He was gonna try. As soon as Rukia or Renji would inform him of Grimmjow’s location - he hoped to whatever gods they would find him before it was too late - he’d go there and try to reason with the man.

 

If that did not work, he’d think of something else.

Ichigo was not a quitter.


	6. Blazing thunder

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grimmjow has gone crazy,well, crazier than he already was, but Ichigo has a way to potentially save him, and he'll do anything he can to stop the man from dying - and taking out innocents or less-innocents with him.

Ichigo was restless; it had been over three days since he’d been brought to the hospital for the third time, and he had not heard anything from Renji or Rukia.

The good thing was, his legs were becoming stronger rapidly, and by rapidly, he really meant it in every sense of the word. With just after 36 hours since Ichigo had first discovered his limbs were getting their feel and strength back, he was already able to walk for short distances without any help.

It was both encouraging and a little alarming, as both Unohana and Urahara weren’t sure what to make of such rapid recovery.

They both clearly worried for a serious relapse to happen at any second, but so far the news were good. Ichigo did not really care honestly; his mind was too preoccupied in finding Grimmjow before it was too late to worry over his damned feet.

He kept replaying that morning on his head over and over, wondering what he could have said differently to prevent it.

The breaking point seemed to have been the moment he’d reminded Grimmjow of his weak mental state, a very big mistake to do with a man as seemingly prideful as he was. Ichigo wanted to kick himself for doing that, it had been beyond stupid.

He and his big mouth!

It had begun promisingly, given how the man had actually smirked at his remarks and everything, but then he just had to go and ruin it. Ichigo huffs and rubs his eyes, feeling restless on having to lie in bed almost all day. He wanted to go out there and search for the man, grab Grimmjow’s shoulders and shake him out of it. Hell, he’d let the man fuck him stupid if that would make him come to his senses. As that thought pops in Ichigo’s head, he cannot stop but recall the moment after their shared night, the way Grimmjow had rested against him for a short while.

That was the only time Ichigo had ever truly seen him relaxed.

Even the seemingly confident swagger he’d had when they first met, it had had an underlying tone of tenseness and hostility to it now that Ichigo thought back on it.

That night however, he’d been completely slack, content with his state of mind and body, even if it was just for a brief moment.

The door opens for Ichigo’s room, and he is a little disappointed to see it was just the nurse, checking for his vitals and few other things like she did every hour. Ichigo lets her measure his blood pressure, check his pupils and reflexes from his feet, which were still slow but coming back at least.

”Unohana-san is truly amazed by the speed of your recovery, Kurosaki-kun.” The nurse commends him, and Ichigo just shrugs, not knowing what to say to that. It was all thanks to Grimmjow really, as weird as that sounded.

”Just try to take it easy; they still worry you may have a relapse.” Ichigo reassures the woman he’d be careful, and she nods, leaving the room after finishing her tests.

He leans back against the bed, gazing at the ceiling.

It was the weirdest fucking thing, but he missed the prickling sensation on his skin.

After having it around for over a month, the complete lack of it felt wrong. Ichigo sighs and rubs his neck, noting his shoulders were slightly stuck from lying down and sitting around so much. His fingers trail up to his lips, and he keeps thinking back on that moment when Grimmjow had kissed him all of a sudden. It was the gentleness that confused him; Grimmjow was by no means a gentle person.

He was the type to make people know if he’d slept with you, with all the marks he’d left on Ichigo’s body.

He’d tear and bite, claw your skin leaving bloody trails after him with sadistic glee.

Yet.... there seemed to be a kinder side to him that the man kept locked away; occasional softer touches, brushes of his lips against your mouth or skin, let alone the fact that yes, he had in fact eased Ichigo’s aching, while suffering from far more serious pain himself.

He’d helped Ichigo, despite using his power likely made him feel worse.

Was it something he’d always had hidden deep beneath the violent, sadistic crack, or had the looming death brought out the kind of vulnerability he usually kept in check?

Ichigo did not know the answer, but he hoped it was the former.

His train of thought is cut short however, as Orihime and Tatsuki bust through the door. Ichigo was surprised to see the two girls, as it had been a while since they’d paid him a visit, namely because they’d been too busy dealing with paperwork and such regarding to the disaster that happened.

”You look better than I feared.” Tatsuki comments, flashing him a relieved smile and Ichigo shrugs rubbing his neck.

”When Rukia told us about the condition they found you in...” Inoue trails off, clutching her hands in her chest as she releases a deep breath to not start crying. Ichigo assumes they had not told these two about what happened until recently, as otherwise Orihime and Tatsuki would have shown up the very day he ended up in hospital again.

”I still can’t believe what that monster did to you.” Tatsuki comments with a huff, feeling a shiver run down her spine as she thinks back on her encounter with the blue haired maniac. She’d never come across someone so violent, and she dealt with plenty of bad criminals.

”It’s my own fault for upsetting him.”

”Don’t say that Ichigo! Whatever you told him, it did not deserve the beating he gave you!” Tatsuki scolds him with a firm look in her eyes, and Ichigo could not stop but smile a little. She was a great friend, and Ichigo just knew if she’d been elemental as well, Tatsuki could probably kick most of their asses.

”Still. I mean...it’s kind of thanks to him my legs are healing.”

The two girls look at him confused, so Ichigo proceeds to explain them - as well as he could - what Urahara had told him.

”That’s...wow.” The black haired girl comments; she was feeling a little speechless now. Ichigo had not mentioned the part he’d slept with the man to the two, not needing another motherly rant, but what he did tell them was enough to stun them quiet for a bit.

”That was...incredibly lucky, Kurosaki-kun. Who would’ve thought his awful actions would result into something positive.” Inoue attempts to smile, but she was still too concerned for it to reach her eyes.

”I just hope Renji and Rukia can track him down before he tears down some place and people along with it.” Ichigo states truthfully, gazing the ceiling with a concerned frown.

”Yeah, let’s hope they get that bastard before that happens.”

Ichigo could understand the girl’s hostility, so he chose not to correct Tatsuki about this matter, and express that he did not really want the man to die.

”Still though....if he was there for a month; why didn’t he snap at you sooner like this?” Inoue ponders, looking a little puzzled.

Yeah, Ichigo could understand her confusion too; given Grimmjow’s temper, it was a miracle he did not up and leave earlier. In fact, now when Ichigo thought about it, he really did not know what made the man come to him specifically. He could’ve demanded the same favor from Rukia, not that it would have worked; she was far fiercer than her demeanor or powers would let on.

Had Grimmjow known Ichigo would agree to it?

If so, how?

There was also the staring too, the nights where he’d sat on his bedroom and watched him sleep.

Ichigo still did not know what that had been about. If it was simply because the man found him attractive and wanted to sleep with him from the start, why hadn’t he done something sooner? In his mental state, it would have not been surprising for him not to care if Ichigo consented.

Yet, he’d waited for permission, clearly.

”Ichigo?” The orange haired male blinks, realizing that Tatsuki had asked him something.

”Uh, yes?”

”How long do you think you’ll have to be in the hospital?”

Ichigo shrugs; it all depended on his legs now, nobody knew if the rapid healing would last. He in all likeness would not wait for an all-clear though; the second Rukia or Renji informed him of Grimmjow’s whereabouts, he’d head there.

 

 

 

Grimmjow was not surprised to find out that Aizen had tightened the security in his place after the bombing; several places he knew were under the man’s influence had more people in them than usual, and they’d have to dodge several of Aizen’s patrols roaming the streets of Hueco Mundo in secret.

The man fully expected his former underling to show up and fuck shit up. Grimmjow did not care if the bastard knew; he was gonna let it all loose and tear the place down alongside his failing body. He glances at the girl who was currently leading him through a secret passageway that would lead into the near proximity of the large manor hidden far north from the city of Hueco Mundo.

For outsiders, the place looked like an empty patch of thick forest due to Aizen’s light ability creating illusions, but insiders knew better than that.

Nobody really knew of the manor’s exact location on the ground level, not even Aizen’s lackeys, hence it was near impossible to find. Using the pathways would not help either; while there were these passages leading up to the place from all of Aizen’s joints, you’d have to know where to look for them, and not all members knew all of the routes. Generally speaking, only the members involved with each place under Aizen’s thumb would know where the entrance in their building was, and they’d always monitor it closely, shooting or otherwise killing any unwanted visitor instantly.

If that failed, all the boss had to do was make the thing collapse, and cops would be back in square one.

Hell, even if they did make it all the way to the manor, Aizen would have likely already emptied it and moved into another one of his hide-outs, the bastard was slippery like that.

On top of all this, majority of captured or fled members would not give out the location of the manor anyway even if they knew, too afraid for their lives to do so. Grimmjow glances around in the dim lighting, noting that this pathway was narrower than others, and at times partially blocked by rubble.

What made this route unique was the fact it had already been destroyed once, but by chance the collapse had not reached all the way through, so there was still room to use it.

Menoly stops, rubbing her hands nervous; they’d reached the point where the road was seemingly blocked, with a small crack to go through from. She could fit from it easily, but Grimmjow’s larger frame would not slip past the narrow passageway, it was physically impossible. Menoly had a feeling it did not matter. Grimmjow was going to make his presence known, that was for sure.

”This is it. Behind this wall, a bit further away is the main corridor; t-the entrance there to this path is blocked with wood, bu-but I don’t think that’s...I don’t think it’s an issue for you.” She turns cautiously to look at the man, who was leaning against the wall slightly, rubbing his eyes.

Menoly had heard rumors about the sixth potentially having overload symptoms, but she’d never thought they were real. Yet, during this journey, she had noticed several of them. It had made her contemplate on the chance of fleeing, but each time she did, his aura would flash at her, reminding her that even if he was sick and dying, he could still easily outdo her.

That was sort of the point of an overload; being too powerful for your own good.

”I bet he knows this one ain’t closed properly.” Grimmjow snorts, a bloodthirsty grin on his face, though it’s damped down slightly by his exhaustion.

Menoly glances back towards the way they came from, wondering if she should attempt to sprint away now. The blue eyes snap at her however, and the girl freezes, waiting for what would happen next with terror.

”Get outta here.”

She blinks, surprised by those words; was the man really going to spare her again? ”I stopped caring about you the moment those bastards tried to bomb me to death.” Grimmjow informs her, before covering his mouth and coughing out more blood. Shit, it looked pretty bad.

”So...you never...”

Menoly looks at him in shock, realizing what his words implied.

The man flashes her menacing grin, made worse by the blood on his face now.

”I was just fuckin’ with ya. When they informed me that I should try n’ bring you to that spot I’d already decided I’d kill whoever the fucker was that showed up there, instead of you.”

Menoly remains quiet, having never expected any of this. It was not really mercy the man was offering, Grimmjow Jeagerjaquez did not have that in his vocabulary. It was simply a switch of interest that happened to save her life.

”Go. I’m pretty sure you don’t actually wanna die.”

The man huffs, slipping down to sit against the wall, lighting a cigarette from the pack he’d snatched on the way from a small kiosk. Menoly inches towards the pathway, keeping his gaze at the man. He just follows her with his gaze dully, blowing smoke out of his mouth before bringing the cigarette up to his lips again. Once she’s far enough, the girl turns and sprints away so quickly it made Grimmjow snort and roll his eyes.

He then rests his head back against the rocky wall, contemplating on what he should do next. He was too weakened right now to go for an attack, so in all likeness he’d have to wait for 24-hours or so before doing this. He knew he’d likely be safe there for now, as this route was not monitored at all.

Even if he wasn’t, the man did not care.

He brings the cigarette to his lips again, watching as the white puffs of smoke slowly rise to the ceiling. He allows his mind wander back to Kurosaki, figuring that he may as well have few of his last thoughts be pleasant.

He’d gone through a rough life, but at least he’d gotten one last, damn good night in.

Grimmjow turns his cigarette down against the ground and closes his eyes, leaning back against the wall, as he starts gathering up all the power he could, lightning dancing around him more rapidly than ever before. The aura around him shifts and changes, forming something akin to a large feline that engulfed his human form.

The man grins, blood dripping down from the corner of his mouth.

He was gonna positively wreck this place.

 

 

 

When Rukia comes in from the door, Ichigo already knew what she had to say.

”We have a lead, and you won’t believe what it is.”

Ichigo shifts to sit more upright, wanting to hear this. ”Your sister and dad saw him in Karakura, with a blond girl whose description matched Menoly.”

Ichigo’s eyes widen at that; why had he gone to Karakura?

Why was he with that girl if he’d decided to let her go earlier?

”They headed out of the city, towards Hueco Mundo according to other witnesses.”

Hueco Mundo? Why would Grimmjow....

It hits Ichigo like a lightning from a clear sky, which was fitting.

”He’s going after Aizen.” Ichigo felt absolutely horrified at that prospect.

Grimmjow was powerful, but there were so many other metahuman elementals in there, that he would in all likely be taken down swiftly.

”I’m afraid so. No one really knows the exact location of his headquarters, so we don’t know where to look.” Ichigo swallows down hardly, his mouth having gone dry; his mind was turning more and more anxious by the minute, and he began to shake visibly, to the point Rukia had to grasp his hands and shush the trembling man, before looking at him with a serious frown.

”Is this really that important to you, that we find him alive?”

Ichigo licks his lips, and nods. ”I might be able to save him. I at least want to have a chance at trying.”

Rukia sighs and sits down beside Ichigo at the edge of the bed while still holding onto his hands gently. ”What makes you feel he deserves this level of sympathy from you? You don’t go this far for a person for no reason.”

Ichigo pauses, contemplating it in his head. He did not really have a solid answer in his head; it was more of a gut feeling.

Almost like an instinct that pushed him to help the man, despite his logic telling him it made no sense.

”I just...hate seeing people suffer like that. He did not ask to be sick like this, he did not...he did not ask to get to the point where he’d have to be a violent maniac just to be able to function properly.” Ichigo explains softly, unable to look at Rukia in the eyes.

”In all likeness, he was like that long before his condition went south.” The woman reminds him with an equally soft tone, but Ichigo shakes his head.

Maybe it was crazy, and he could be wrong, but Ichigo truly believed there was more to the man than sadistic violence and angry outbursts.

Ichigo had seen it first hand, he’d felt it against his own body, his legs, his skin, his lips.

Grimmjow could be gentle, if he just allowed himself to.

If someone would just...get him to understand it was not a sign of weakness.

”Unstable elements create unstable minds. None of them choose to be what they are.” Ichigo concludes diplomatically, gaining an agreeing sigh and a nod from his friend.

For a moment, they both remain quiet.

”Renji and I are heading to Hueco Mundo now. We may not know the exact location, but...”

”It’s better than nothing. I’ll come with you.”

Part of Rukia wants to protest, pointing out that Ichigo was still too weakened to go anywhere, and they did not know if his legs would keep working, but she also knew Ichigo would not back down with this. Plus, she’d promised to let Ichigo try and talk to the man, even if she was fairly sure it would be futile.

”Then get ready; we’ll be leaving in thirty minutes.”

 

 

 

 

Grimmjow snaps his eyes open, and slowly leans forward, away from the wall.

His form was coated with a thick, near blindingly blue layer of pure energy. The amount of it was so vast that it had burned his senses, making him completely numb to pain now. It was not really a good thing, as it indicated his burn-out had edged closer, perhaps to a few hours or so. It did not matter. He gets up, feeling his power radiate around him, small lightning sparkling and hitting the rocks around him constantly, leaving several burn marks. The few dim lights left on the tunnel had burst a while back, making him the only source of light.

He felt surprisingly calm now; there was no hint of his earlier anger, or any other emotion for that matter. It was all gone.

Grimmjow had always been labeled as a psycho- or a sociopath, but he was fairly certain the words had never ringed as true as they did now.

He began walking towards the blocked wall, knowing full well that once he blasted it to bits, he’d be noticed and dozens upon dozens of Aizen’s goons would descend upon him. It did not matter; he was made of pure energy now, momentarily lifting his strength near the level of at least Harribel. Normally, Grimmjow would’ve let a sinister grin spread to his face, but his expression remained blank.

There was only one thing in his mind right now, and that was to destroy anything that got in his way, all the way until he burned out. Like a giant star on its last leg.

Grimmjow lifts his arm, feeling the energy wanting to burst out of his body already; it was almost if his elemental powers were more impatient at extracting revenge than he was right now. With one last stray thought wandering towards Kurosaki, silently hoping that the bastard would come and try to stop him, Grimmjow let’s it loose.

The enormous amount of electrical energy busts trough the wall easily, scorches the wooden boards blocking the way to ashes, and spreads all across the main hall and other routes connected to it like a vicious thunderstorm, burning and electrocuting everything it touched; there were people in the halls, he could hear several screams of pain and shock, before they fell silent, burned to ashes by the enormous output of energy.

Part of the blue lightning even makes it out to the surface, cracking the ground and charring the nearest trees and even animals to death.

 

The shake of the ground is felt all the way up in the mansion, and the residents there all stop their current jobs, dread filling their minds.

The blind, dark skinned man tilts his head towards their leader, who was still as calm as ever.

”It seems our stray cat has returned home.” Tousen comments calmly, although he was concerned; the thing with overloads was, that for few moments before their deaths, Elementals became incredibly powerful, potentially even rivaling their strongest warrior in power.

”So it seems. Prepare them for a battle.”

Aizen comments simply, not concerned.

The former sixth was powerful, especially right now, but the man knew he would not last long.

The man would in all likeness burn himself out before he did any real damage.

”Yes, Aizen-Sama.” Tousen states simply and heads out to summon rest of their top ranking warriors that were still in the building.

One of them was within the room, watching the panic unfold around her with a stoic face. Harribel was honestly displeased with the way Aizen-sama seemed dismissive of the situation. She could feel the power radiating from below ground, and knew just how powerful Jeagerjaquez had become. Those after revenge with nothing to lose were incredibly dangerous, and she knew many of their weaker members would die before he would get taken down.

She understood his anger; the woman had not exactly agreed with their master for killing Grimmjow’s mentor Shawlong, let alone the attempt at his life, which had resulted in the deaths of his subordinates.

The man was a violent being, but Harribel had noted he’d cared for his mentor and the trio serving under him, just like she cared for hers.

Had the situation not endangered those who were not involved in the situation, Harribel would perhaps have let the man do what he wished, as a gesture of respect from one warrior to another, who was on their death-bed.

The woman sighs and glances at the three women beside her, who all seemed positively terrified, but trying to hide it.

”Th-that bastard! I’ll kick his ass!” Apacci spats out, but her voice was shaky, indicating she did not exactly trust in her power to be able to take the man on right now.

”My my, aren’t you quick on throwing your life away.”

”Shut up, Sung-Sun!”

Harribel sighs and turns back towards the chaos unfolding around them, as non-fighters attempt to escape through the tunnels, which she knew would not work; all the routes were coated with Grimmjow’s lethal energy, charring anybody who entered them. They were trapped in the mansion, with only way out being trough the surface level, which would reveal the location of the place. Something Aizen would never allow.

Then again, as she glances outside, it was clear that would be risky as well, as lightning shot at random from the ground, injuring the few that attempted to get out that way.

”He’s trapped us here.” Her tallest, dark skinned underling states, her voice slightly uneasy as well now.

Yes, it was clear for Harribel, that the man did not give anyone a chance to escape now. He wanted them all positively dead, and he in all likeness did not care if he succeeded or not. It was a dangerous situation.

 

 

 

Ichigo and his two friends had just arrived to Hueco Mundo, when they felt an intense burst of energy radiating from somewhere, hitting them in waves like some sort of supersonic boom.

Ichigo recognized the familiar prickling against his skin, and his eyes widen in worry. The energy output was so great that Grimmjow would in all likeness die within few hours, or even less if he kept this up. ”Where the hell is that coming from?!” Renji questions, looking around with widened eyes.

The lights in the entire city flickered, with some devices just bursting, spreading glass everywhere. People were running around in panic, not understanding what was going on.

”He’s really not messing around; this gotta be the biggest spike in elemental energy I’ve felt since Ukitake-san used his power years ago.”

Renji states after watching the chaos unfold around them.

Ichigo gets out of the car, his legs still shaky, but he was able to walk fairly well. In the midst of the chaos, he suddenly spots a familiar face. It was the girl, Menoly, running away amongst the panicked people. As she spots them, she stops, breathing harshly. The young girl glances around, then back at them, as if contemplating on what to do. As the two others turn their attention to her now, she makes her decision and sprints away. Rukia and Renji take action instantly, heading after her and using their powers to trap her onto a small alley.

”Let me go! I’m not going to die here while that maniac burns the entire city down!” The girl screams at them, banging at the icy-wall Rukia had put up to trap her in the dead-end alley.

Ichigo walks there as fast as he could, and looks up at her with a serious frown.

”Where is he now?” The woman turns quiet, clearly reluctant to say it.

”You brought him to Aizen, or at least showed him a way to slip in unnoticed.” Rukia states, and the girl looks at her reluctantly.

”I had no choice; I thought he was going to kill me if I resisted!”

”Please. Show us the way. I might be able to stop this.” Ichigo begs from her with a softer tone, surprising the girl who looks at him confused.

”We came up with a way to stop his overload. If I can just reach him then we may be able to put an end to this chaos. So please.”

Menoly remains quiet, examining his face for a long moment. Finally, she sighs and rubs her eyes. ”There is an abandoned, half-collapsed route going to the mansion from that old warehouse near the train-station. But I would not go there myself now. His powers have completely engulfed the underground tunnels. Anybody who steps in there, will in all likeness be burned to crisp.”

Ichigo just nods, and then looks at Rukia, who releases the girl after a moment of hesitation. Menoly doesn’t stick around, just runs after the group of people attempting to escape the city and the sudden chaos that fell on it.

”Ichigo, if what she says is true...”

Renji warns his friend, but Ichigo just shakes his head.

”I have to try.” He says with absolute determination in his voice. Rukia sighs, and then gestures back towards their car.

”Then at least put on some gear that might protect you from the lightning.” Ichigo nods; they’d taken on some protective garments, designed to hold off elemental powers of this type, although Ichigo had a feeling the amount of energy in question right now would be too great.

Still, he’d gone too far to back down.

 

 

 

Menoly had not been kidding; the building and the entrance alone was positively blackened, and there were even dead birds lying around them.

Ichigo gazes at the dark hole in front of him, feeling his chest tighten with slight anxiousness. Sure, the black garments he wore could negate even powerful electric bursts, but this amount of power was beyond what the outfit was likely designed for. Rukia glances at Ichigo with a serious face, before putting on the white mask designed to protect their faces as well. They had slits for eyes and breathing, but they looked positively creepy, almost like skull-masks.

”Well...let’s go then.” Renji comments from beneath his, clearly unnerved. Ichigo takes in a deep breath and starts walking into the darkness, his hair standing on an end.

Whenever it was out of fear or the energy radiating around them, he wasn’t sure. The route looked like an entrance to hell; it was blackened, broken glass littering the ground from burst lightbulbs, electric wires torn and hanging from the ceiling. There were blue lightning dancing in the air, appearing and disappearing in flashes. One of them hits Renji, but luckily his suit held, for now. Ichigo was illuminating their way with a flame held above his hand, bathing the surroundings with dim orange glow.

As they enter deeper, Ichigo felt the prickling on his skin intensify the further they went.

The air was thick with elemental energy, and Ichigo was fairly sure that had they not worn their suits, they would’ve probably died from the sheer pressure alone, as Grimmjow’s elemental power laced the atmosphere in the tunnel with the kind of charge that it could paralyze one’s unprotected nerves. And as they went deeper, it would likely turn you to a charred corpse. Ichigo could feel the heat crank up around them.

He was not bothered by it, being a fire-user himself, and Rukia was managing it as well given her ice powers, but Renji was clearly uncomfortable, sweating beneath his mask.

”This guy uses thunder; how the hell does it feel like a fire elemental is trying to turn this place into a boiler room or something?”

”Lightning is also heat and light like fire.” Rukia states simply, her voice slightly strained.

Worry began to creep into Ichigo’s mind again, but this time it was aimed towards his friends. In all likeness, letting them come with him could mean their deaths. Ichigo stops and turns to look at them. The two stop as well and look at him confused through their masks.

”You should go back.”

”No way Ichigo, we are your friends and will see this trough with you!” Renji protests instantly as predicted.

”You could die here; I don’t want to take that risk over a mess I caused!”

”You could die as well asshat! We won’t let you go there by yourself!”

Before Ichigo could argue this further with Renji, a huge shockwave runs through the tunnel, making it shake and rubble begins to fall down the ceiling.

_”Ichigo!”_

Rukia screams moments before the tunnel collapses, separating them and turning everything black around Ichigo. He blacks out momentarily, and once he wakes up, for a moment Ichigo thinks he’s back at the collapse site. He could hear the lightning sizzle around him, momentarily illuminating his pitch-black surroundings.

Ichigo abruptly realizes that his mask had fallen off; it was lying further away, cracked in the middle. His blood ran cold, as he realized there was a crack in his armor. As if on cue, sparks start hitting the ground closer and closer to him, almost like the footsteps from the man that day when Ichigo had been sure he’d kill him. Ichigo closes his eyes reflexively, out of fear.

However, instead of a painful jolt, all Ichigo feels is slight tingle on his body, and he opens his eyes again, noting how the blue lights danced around his body, sort of like they would around Grimmjow, before disappearing within him. Ichigo just stares in shock, then slowly pushes himself up, realizing that he felt...fine.

The earlier, oppressive energy around him was gone, or rather; there was a thin layer of blue glow protecting him from it.

Ichigo stares ahead for a moment, and then hears a voice call out to him from behind the rubble.

”Ichigo! Please tell me you’re alive!”

”Yes, I’m okay Rukia!” He could hear the sigh of relief from the other site, and moments later Renji spoke up, stating they’d try to break through the barrier between them.

”No! I can go by myself; head back out and search for the place on the surface. I’m certain he’s made enough of a mess to make Aizen’s lair detectable.”

His friends naturally protest this idea, but Ichigo wouldn’t hear it.

”I’m fine; it seems his energy is....protecting me somehow.”

The two turn quiet, and Ichigo could imagine the confused faces the two had right now.

”How the hell would that even be possible?” Renji questions after a moment of stunned silence.

Ichigo sighs, rubbing his eyes and glancing into the darkness. He could now see ahead more thanks to the soft blue glow around him. Granted, he could’ve just lit a ball of fire again to illuminate his way.

”We don’t have time to argue about this, just go!”

Ichigo tells them, then without even bothering to hear their response, heads out deeper into the tunnel.

 

 

It was eerie, all Ichigo could hear now was his own breathing, heartbeat and the crackle of lightning around him. He was certain that had he not had the blue protective layer around him for some reason, he would have been charred already. Ichigo could not stop but wonder why the energy was doing it; did Grimmjow know he was coming?

Or was this something subconscious?

All he knew was the fact that Grimmjow’s element clung to him, encasing him into something even safer than his partially damaged neutralizing armor. Lightning sparks still hit him occasionally, but thanks to the protective glow around him, they felt more like tiny static shocks rather than painful stabs they truly were.

The air gets thicker as he heads deeper however, as the heat began to turn unbearable even for him. Ichigo has to slump down to his knees, breathing harshly. It felt like there was enormous weight on his shoulders, attempting to push him to the ground. Ichigo knew this feeling; he’d sensed it once before when he’d witnessed his first overload-death. It had been a fire-elemental like him, and a while before they died; the atmosphere around them had turned out like this due to the heavy concentration of elemental energy surrounding their failing body.

Ichigo bites his lip, forcing himself back to his feet.

He had to get there before it was too late. He lights a flame into his hand, hoping to illuminate more of the way. That’s when the lightning around him goes crazy, bolts heading towards his way as if someone had thrown spears of lightning at him.

However, they do not strike Ichigo, or the shield around him, but enter into his flame, making it burn brighter, until it turned white. The man just stares at it, then suddenly realizes he was no longer feeling weighed down. He looks around, watching in awe as more and more of the blue energy slips into him. They did not feel painful, but almost like gentle caresses.

As Ichigo turns his attention back to the bright flame in his hand now, he begins to realize what was happening.

His idea was working.

Grimmjow’s power, for some reason, was entering in him, strengthening Ichigo slowly.

His feet stopped their light shaking, standing firm to the ground. His body stopped feeling woozy or heavy, filled with new burst of energy now. Ichigo closes his eyes, and then opens them with a new level of determination, heading across the tunnel with newfound strength and speed. His idea could work, he could save Grimmjow. He just needed to get there on time.

The hall where the tunnel ended up in was even more horrifying than the hellish route Ichigo had taken; it was badly charred, and there were...there were blackened corpses around him. Some seemed like they’d attempted to escape, others were stuck in a defensive or fighting stance, clearly having attempted to defend themselves. At that moment, Ichigo began to doubt himself; was he really doing the right thing, helping the man who’d caused this devastation?

Ichigo shakes his head; Grimmjow would not have done this if it wasn’t for his volatile state.

Hell, this could have been avoided if he had been more careful with his words.

He heads towards the stairs, noting that everything around him was eerily silent; he’d expected fighting noises, but it was as if the entire place was holding its breath.

The door at the end of the staircase was blasted open, charred and on the verge of falling down. Ichigo enters into the actual building, looking around cautiously. The area was a mess; everything was broken, blackened, or burning. He spotted more people lying on the floor, likely dead. Ichigo felt a soul-crushing hand grip him. This was his fault. If he’d not angered Grimmjow the way he did, he would’ve never snapped and done this.

A voice in his head reminds Ichigo that in all likeness, Grimmjow would have ended up in this state of mind regardless, but it was hard for him to listen to that bit of logic, looking around the devastation. Even if all those around him were criminals, this was too much.

Suddenly, Ichigo hears a coughing sound from nearby, and he looks around, spotting a man attempting to get off the floor.

His clothes were badly burned, and his skin had serious burns on it. Ichigo rushes to the man, crouching down beside him and helping him to turn on his side to breathe easier.

”Th-thank you, Niño. It was quite difficult to breathe lying like that.”

”What happened?”

Ichigo asks from the man, who managed to smile before coughing out smoke and blood.

”That crazy little rascal, Sexta came home. We always thought he’d lose his marbles one day and do this, especially after Aizen-Dono executed his mentor.”

Ichigo bit his lip, feeling absolutely awful now.

”Hold still; my friends in all likeness will show up soon and take care of the injured.”

The man manages to wave his hand dismissively. ”They should not bother; the little panther has decided to wipe us all out from the maps of the world, and perhaps it’s better that way.”

He coughs again, and Ichigo looks around for anything that could help the man.

”Why do you look so devastated? Based on the uniform, you are from the Guard, are you not little niño?”

Ichigo turns to look back at the man with a melancholic look in his eyes.

”This is my fault. I was trying to help him, but I ended up angering him instead and now this happened.”

The man lifts a burnt eyebrow, looking almost amused by Ichigo’s words despite his situation.

”Why would a delicate childlike yourself attempt to help a lunatic of a man like the sexta?” Ichigo felt mildly annoyed at being called delicate, but the same time, he knew he’d lost muscle while bound to a wheelchair, and his expression probably made him look even more vulnerable.

”I....don’t know. I just did not want him to do any of this.” Ichigo states, and then gets up as he sees something moving towards him.

It was a stray lightning, and Ichigo summons up a flame shield to block it so it would not hit the injured man. Just like in the tunnel however, the bolt dissolves into his flames instead of jolting him backwards, making his flames burn brighter, towards white again.

”I see; I have not seen such merging of power since Harribel-san and her predecessor merged their power once.”

Ichigo turns to look back at the man, who just smiles at him tiredly. ”You chose quite the beast to fall for, Niño.”

He did not have time to ask the man what he meant, as a door bursts open suddenly, and as Ichigo looks up, he sees a group of women heading there, with two of them supporting the third between them.

”This is what you get for being so reckless, Apacci!” The taller woman spats at her injured friend, but she was quite clearly concerned.

”S-shut up...the bastard almost hit Harribel-san, what did you expect me to do!?”

”Have more faith in her power; Harribel-san is stronger than the sixth.” The other woman comments, although there was a hint of uncertainty in it.

Then, they happen to look up and spot Ichigo.

For a moment the women just stare at her baffled, then quickly take fighting stances, even the injured one who somehow managed to stay on her feet despite the serious bleeding.

”Who the fuck are you?!” The injured one demands from Ichigo, who doesn’t know how to react.

The taller woman examines him for a moment, then her eyes widen, before it turns into an angry frown. ”You! You carry the same energy around you as Jeagerjaquez! Did you come here with him to kill us?!”

Before Ichigo could explain himself, the tall woman whips a strong wind-blast towards him, which throws him back against the wall. It hurt less than it would have normally due to the protective energy around him, but it still made him bust his lip open. Ichigo slides to the ground, and then dodges another attack, this time a spear, made of burning hot metal. It had been summoned and thrown by the injured woman, indicating he was either a ground or metal elemental.

”Get back here so we can kill you bastard!” The woman snarls at him, throwing another one of those spears. Ichigo throws up a fire shield to block it, melting the thrown weapon quickly.

However, what happens next was not something Ichigo expected.

The lightning energy coating him suddenly charges at the women, and they dodge away as it hits to the ground at the spot they’d been standing, charring the floor badly and leaving a crater behind.

”What the hell you bastard! That’s dirty!” Apacci yells at Ichigo, but the young man could tell she was scared now.

Her eyes eyed Ichigo warily too now, who noticed that the aura around him had begun to swirl and shift in an unstable manner, as if it was...angry.

”I did not do that on purpose; I don’t...I don’t know why it happened!”

”Liar!” The tallest woman booms at him, sending another whirling hurricane towards Ichigo.

Another lightning leaves the protective layer around Ichigo, easily reaping the whirling wind into bits before heading towards the tall woman, who brought her hands up to cover herself.

_”WAIT!”_

The lightning dissipates a moment before it hits the lady, and she looks up shocked, staring at Ichigo. He releases a deep breath, glancing towards the man he’d been talking. He was out cold, but Ichigo could tell he was still breathing. The women follow his gaze and spot the man too, and the fiery woman turns to glare at Ichigo again, though she was swaying a little, having to take support from the piece of fallen roof next to her.

“Isn’t that Dordoni?” The long haired woman comments with her usual calm manner, and the fierce woman whips her head around to glare at Ichigo again.

”Did you do that?!”

Ichigo shakes his head, and the woman summons out another metallic spear, but her quiet friend suddenly places a hand in front of her, looking at her with a stoic face. ”What the hell Sung-sun?! Let me take this bastard out!”

”Calm down you brute; can you not see this one is being shielded by the lightning?”

The woman blinks, and then looks at Ichigo more closely. ”She’s right; it’s almost like back then when Harribel-San covered for lady Nelliel.”

The biggest woman states, looking at Ichigo with widened eyes.

”There is no point for us to even try and attack this one. The lightning is working independently from him, and will just charge at us, burning us to ashes if we try to lay a hand on him.”

The two women glance at their friend, clearly unnerved by her observation. Ichigo looks down at the aura around him, surprised himself. Why was Grimmjow’s element doing this? Did he really know Ichigo was there?

”Oi! Bastard!”

Ichigo looks back up at the women now, who look at him with uneasy expressions. Well, aside from the stoic one who partially covered her face the whole time and did not lift a finger against him.

”What are you gonna do?” Ichigo releases a slow breath and steps away from the wall, noting the women backed away in slight fear.

Grimmjow’s power around him had to truly be terrifying prospect for the women.

”I am not here to hurt anybody; I came here to try and stop him.” Ichigo states firmly, looking at the group directly with a frown.

”The Guard has found this place and will in all likeness descend around here and take control over it. I wish to stop Grimmjow’s overload from reaching its end and killing us all in the potential blast.”

He pauses for a second, his silence clearly unnerving the women.

They truly feared Grimmjow’s power a lot.

”I need to know where he is.”

The women glance at each other, then point at the direction they’d come from. Ichigo nods and heads there. Then, he skids to a stop and looks back at them, gesturing towards the unconscious man.

”If you could help out any of your injured comrades, that could be good. I don’t know how fast the Guard will get here.”

The trio doesn’t have any time to respond to him as Ichigo sprints away, noting that not only he was able to run again with ease, he was faster than normal. It was probably thanks to the lightning energy clinging to him.

 

 

 

Harribel hoped that her subordinates had gotten to safety.

After they’d seen the man tear trough the seventh and ninth of their rank, she’d known this was far more serious than Aizen could have expected.

She’d always been aware of the hidden potential within Grimmjow, the intense passionate flame for battle he carried, that could become incredibly dangerous if all restraints would be taken off. It had happened now.

She summons up another wall of water to block the powerful lightning bolt aimed at her: they were currently locked in a battle at the lower levels of the northern wing of the large mansion. Szayel and his underling had headed out with Tousen and their leader to bring Aizen to safety.

Harribel feels the shockwave emanating from the next blast, as their two elements clash together, creating a lot of heat and steam into the windowless room. Looking up at the man, the woman could not see even a hint of the cocky, arrogant and rude young man who’d enjoyed scaring and torturing his prey before finishing them off.

As strange as it was, now that he was hell-bent on destruction, he seemed almost emotionless, like he did not enjoy it as he used to.

The man had stuffed his hands in his pockets, the only familiar gesture about his behavior. After another attempt at engulfing him into the water pillar she summoned failed, with the man just literally evaporating all of it with the heat he was putting off, they both stop for a moment, staring each other’s down silently. Harribel noted that she was lightly out of breath, whereas the man seemed completely unaffected. It was to be expected, given the overload stages he was on. He could no longer feel pain or exhaustion at all, almost completely merged with his element.

”I don’t get ya.”

Harribel looks at the man with a stoic look, not showing her exhaustion.

”You got a reason to hate Aizen as much as me, why’d you bother protecting him?”

A rogue lightning swings at her, but she blocks it with another water shield, not lifting her hand to do so. It was getting a little difficult to breathe due to the oppressing amount of elemental energy in one room.

”It’s his fault that yer partner’s in a coma, yet you keep covering for him.”

”I do not wish to seek revenge like you, Jeagerjaquez. I see no joy in spilling blood for something as petty as that.”

Another lightning escapes the bright blue aura around the man, and she blocks it yet again, though this time bits of the energy manages to get past her defenses, giving the woman a light shock that made her almost flinch.

”Yer weak as fuck. A fuckin’ ass-kisser who ain’t got the backbone.” The man comments simply, his face still uncharacteristically blank.

Normally he’d sneered ar Harribel, or given her a maddening grin. Now he was talking like he was just stating facts.

”I have the strength to not throw my life away like this.” She states simply, throwing another wave of water at the man, which again evaporates as he increases the output of his blindingly bright aura’s energy.

The black marking that was hidden underneath the white shirt he wore had creeped up now, vein-like black markings slithering up his shoulder and neck, spreading slowly to his left arm.

He was burning out, and fast.

Harribel began to realize that regardless of how this fight went, she would not get out of there alive without a miracle.

Even if she wan, there was no way to her to stop the blast that Grimmjow’s final energy outburst would cause.

The woman prayed in her head that her underlings managed to get away from the mansion like she’d told them to do. ”What life?” Harribel realizes the man was now standing right in front of her, having somehow moved from his previous spot without her noticing. Her eyes widen in slight shock, having never been caught off guard like this before. The aura the man was putting out was so incredibly oppressive, that even Harribel, someone three steps above his rank, felt her power falter.

That was the strength of a metahuman elemental at the verge of their final burst.

Seeing it up close now too, Harribel notes there were strange, orange wisps mixed in with the blue.

She did not have much time or care to think what that meant however, as Grimmjow grasps her by the neck and throws her against the wall with one swift motion, creating a deep impact crater where she stuck in the wall. Harribel coughs, bits of blood coming out of her mouth. Had the situation been different, she could’ve wan long time ago, as normally Harribel would’ve been more powerful than the man.

Now, the woman accepts her defeat, knowing there was nothing she could do. At least, her death would likely be swift, given that Jeagerjaquez did respect her for her abilities, and it had been shown with a smaller amount of rude remarks towards her.

Before the man manages to finish her off, someone else steps into the room, and they both turn to look at the newcomer.

A young male with bright orange hair, covered in a bluish white aura. Grimmjow gazes at the warm orange eyes looking up at him, their expression wide. The young man seemed both relieved and terrified the same time. He was not terrified of Grimmjow however, and Harribel could soon tell why. The unusual aura around the fiery haired newcomer was made from Grimmjow’s elemental energy, not his own.

The orange wisps Harribel had seen, they had come from this young man, a Guard member given the partially ripped outfit he wore. The woman could not believe what she was seeing, for she understood the meaning behind those flickers of color better than anyone.

”Grimmjow!” The young man huffs out, walking towards him cautiously.

”I told ya not to look for me.” The man states, his unusually emotionless tone making the young man falter, but he soon gathers himself, and walks closer, reaching a hand out towards the man.

As he reaches the edge of the blue glow surrounding Grimmjow, he pulls his hand away as it gets burned by the thick concentration of energy surrounding the blunette.

The aura given to him was not enough to protect Ichigo from the overload.

”Please, listen to me; we can fix this.”

The young man comments softly, looking up at Grimmjow with widened eyes. The blackness had spread to his arm now, vein-like structure covering the left limb almost all the way to his wrist. The man just stares at him dully.

”Get outta here, Kurosaki.”

”No!”

The power of his voice surprises both of them, and Ichigo was happy to see a bit of emotion in that stoic face.

”I can stop this; you don’t have to die.”

Grimmjow remains quiet, then glances at Ichigo’s legs, almost if he just now realized the fact Ichigo was standing and not in a wheelchair.

”You can walk.” He states, no emotion in his voice. It was a passive observation.

Ichigo pauses, biting his lip. His heart thundered in his chest; he had to get Grimmjow to let him closer, so he could make this stop, before the man burst. Ichigo was not sure how he knew what he had to do, he just did. He reaches closer again, but he gets violently pushed away by the thundering energy around Grimmjow as before.

”Yes, I can walk thanks to you.” Grimmjow lifts eyebrow at that, and Ichigo forces the words out of his mouth; he was positively scared, sensing that they were just minutes away from the final blast.

”Somehow, your presence nearby me allowed our elemental powers to...merge, and it accelerated my healing.” Ichigo explains, feeling his voice tremble.

He abruptly realized, that one wrong word would mean their deaths now. It would not just be another violent beating; it would be a complete annihilation.

So far, the man just stood there silently, looking at him with emotionless expression. He still would not let Ichigo closer however, the aura around him forcing the younger male back away each time he attempted to reach for Grimmjow.

”It can work both ways; I can...I can take some of that excess energy from you and prevent the overload. Please, please, let me help.” Ichigo begs from the man softly, again trying to reach trough the painful shield surrounding the man.

A hand grabs his wrist, and gods, it hurt so bad; it almost felt like Ichigo could feel the pain the man was going through right now, except in all likeness it was just a fraction, as the suffering Grimmjow was going through was so great his brain would not comprehend it anymore, and thus Grimmjow would not even feel it.

Ichigo’s vision blistered with white lights, and tears start running down his eyes. He gasps for air, feeling his lungs burn as well; it was near unbearable.

_”Why do you care?”_

Ichigo forces his eyes open, noting that they were face-to-face now.

The oppressing aura around Grimmjow had engulfed him as well now, hence it hurt so badly. Ichigo manages to force his lips open, and his voice comes out in a pained, aching whisper.

”Because I _want_ to.”

Grimmjow just stares at him, blue eyes glowing almost as brightly as the energy around him.

That’s when Ichigo forces his body to move, feeling how every inch of his skin felt like it was being touched by a branding iron. His hand slips away from Grimmjow’s hold, and he manages to place them on the man’s cheeks. Ichigo coughs out blood, feeling his vision turn blurry. He refused to back down however. The young man leans closer, and manages to plaster his dried, bleeding lips against the man’s, kissing him with intent. At first, Grimmjow remains still, unresponsive to Ichigo’s gesture, and the younger male begins to succumb to the pain, feeling his legs start giving away.

Except, a pair of strong arms wrap themselves around his waist, and his mouth is soon attacked with a familiar ravenous hunger.

Ichigo could feel something strange happen then; the intense pain on his body began to slip away, replaced by a feeling of intense amounts of power entering his system, revitalizing him until his entire body was buzzing, beaming with energy.

Suddenly, the man coughs and Ichigo could taste blood on his lips. Worried, Ichigo pushes back and notices that there were bits of blood dripping down from the corner of Grimmjow’s mouth. His grip around Ichigo slackens, and the man slumps to the floor, coughing out more blood from his mouth. Ichigo crouches down too instantly, eyes wide with worry. He turns the man around, and notices that while the aura had vanished, the blackness was still spreading. Even if he would not explode in a massive burst of thunder, he was still dying.

”Oh god...please, don’t. Don’t die on me now!” Ichigo grasps his head, lifting it to his lap and petting the blue hair almost desperately. Grimmjow just looks up at him with almost gray eyes now, a slight smirk appearing to his face.

”....Shoulda...known you’d come. Stubborn....fuckin’...bastard.” He sounded almost happy.

Ichigo just shushes him, kissing his forehead and looking around, trying to come up with something, anything to do to save him.

”There is still a chance.” Ichigo looks up at the woman who’d managed to get herself off the wall, and was now walking towards them. The young man tenses, but she waves her hand reassuringly. ”I do not wish to harm you, young Guard. I frankly understand your dread right now. You can still save him, but you must act quickly.”

”What do I do?” Ichigo felt like a scared child, waiting for his dad to explain him about what happened to their mother.

”What you did just now; you took a lot of energy out of him to prevent the overload burst, but you took too much, hence his body is still failing.”

Ichigo looks down at Grimmjow horrified, whose eyes were closed now, and he was panting harshly, his skin pale and sickly.

”You need to return some of that energy back to him.” The woman explains, and Ichigo just looks up at her, stating that he did not know how. He did not even know how he’d taken it in the _first_ place. All of his actions had been pure instinct.

”You can probably feel his power somewhere within you. Just focus on that and bring it back out. Pour it back into him, but slowly, or he’ll just combust and kill us all instantly.” Ichigo bites his lip and nods, placing a hand to Grimmjow’s chest. His heartbeat was weak beneath Ichigo’s touch. ”Why are you helping me?” He looks up at the woman who just sighs and looks down at Grimmjow with a near solemn look.

”I told you: I understand the dread you feel right now. My partner almost died from an overload herself, and I had to save her life like this. Unfortunately for her... she did not wake up. She succumbed into a coma she has yet to awaken from.”

”Why?”

”I couldn’t do it correctly. I gave her a bit too much, that is why I am telling you to be careful.”

Ichigo gazes at the woman quietly. He could hear some distant noises from above, indicating that the Guard had busted in to the compound, likely taking out any opposition and hopefully treating any injured. ”Hurry.” Ichigo snaps out of it and looks back down at the dying man on his arms. With a deep sigh, he leans down and kisses Grimmjow with what hopefully wouldn’t be the last time - Ichigo did not even bother asking himself why he wished that particular thing - and rested their foreheads together, closing his eyes and focusing on the power burning inside him.

There was the familiar warmth of his flames, but he could also sense something else: the restless, intense blue energy surrounding his blaze.

Grimmjow’s thunder.

He began slowly pulling it out, unsure on how he knew what to do, having never attempted something like this before. Perhaps it was instinct. It almost felt like summoning his flames, except this time he did not attempt it physically. He just tried to get the blue energy to slip back into its true owner. He began to feel the lightning dissipate from within him, and as he opened his eyes, he noted that the black marking was slowly creeping back down, eventually vanishing under the man’s shirt.

Ichigo kept focusing, not wanting to stop until it was completely gone.

”Careful. Too much and he’ll either lapse into a coma, or we both die.” The woman tells him.

Ichigo remains quiet, all of his focus on the man he was holding. He could feel the familiar prickling on his skin, it was very faint at first, but it became stronger as more and more time passed. Then, a large blast shakes the building, and Ichigo’s concentration breaks; a blue burst of energy emitting from the man sends both him and Harribel flying against the wall, and the last thing he thought before passing out, was the hopelessness of failure.

He’d failed.

 

 

 

Ichigo woke into beeping sounds, for the fifth time now. It was becoming a theme with him, to end up in hospital.

There were voices around him, and as Ichigo cracked his eyes open, the first thing he spotted was a long orange hair with teary eyes.

It was Orihime, and as she saw he was awake, the girl releases a sigh of relief, wiping her tears away. ”Thank god! We thought...” Ichigo attempts to speak, but his throat was dry and all he managed was a cough.

”The shockwave from the blast knocked you out really bad; by the time we found you, you’d lost a lot of blood.” Rukia tells him seriously, she had bags under her eyes indicating that she had not slept much last night. Oh yeah, he had a bandage around his head, meaning he’d hit his head real hard. ”I managed to stop the bleeding with my ice, and we rushed you to a hospital. Unohana and Urahara-san worked through the night to save you.” Rukia releases a shaky breath and rubs his eyes, trying not to start crying.

”What...happened?” Ichigo manages to ask, and the group glances at each other, before Rukia finally fills him in on what happened.

”You were right; the lightning around the area had broken through Aizen’s illusions so we could locate the mansion. By the time we got there, majority of them were too badly injured or dead to fight back. We brought them to a hospital, including a man who apparently met you.”

Ah, so the old guy had survived? Ichigo honestly felt relieved about that.

However, the look Rukia had indicated she had bad news.

”The only other person we found from the room with you was that woman, Harribel. She’d been knocked out as well by the final burst.” Ichigo felt his chest tighten; she knew what that meant. ”All we found of him...was this.” Rukia comments softly, and pulls out the white, charred jacket the man had worn. She hands it to Ichigo, who just takes it quietly, clearly in a state of shock. It was clear some of his friends - namely Renji and Tatsuki - did not understand Ichigo’s sorrow, but they chose not to question him about it right now.

"You saved a lot of innocent lives by negating his overload burst enough, Ichigo; the damage would've been far greater in any other case." Rukia attempts to cheer him, but it was clear Ichigo was not having any of it right now. 

 

The group chats idly a bit more, speculating that since Grimmjow’s attack had lessened Aizen’s ranks remarkably, things could be now taking a turn for the better. Apparently the man himself had managed to escape again, but Ichigo paid no attention to any of this.

He just held the burned garment in his hands, feeling a familiar pain ache in his chest, like somebody carved out his heart. He was not good with deaths. At some point, the violent, arrogant bastard had managed to carve a space for himself into Ichigo’s heart, no matter how tiny it was. Perhaps it hurt even more so, because Ichigo felt like he’d failed in doing that one thing he’d sworn to do when he took this job; protect people’s lives.

”Perhaps we should let him rest.” Orihime comments after a moment, noticing the way Ichigo shook.

The group glances at him and then head out of the room, giving him some space.

Once he’s alone, Ichigo drops the burned jacket from his hands and covers his face, tears flowing down his cheeks almost involuntarily. He’d really thought he could save him; if only....if only he had not lost his focus, dammit!

Ichigo mingles his fingers into his hair, his entire body shaking with sorrow and frustration.

_”Shit...”_

He manages to mutter out, a sound something between a gasp and a sob, and he slumps down to his bed and curling up, clutching the burned clothing against his chest, attempting to hide his face from the world for now by placing an arm over his head. At some point, Ichigo fell asleep.

 

He had a strange dream; somebody was watching him as he slept, before walking beside him, whispering something into his ear.

 

_”Get me some sake again or I won’t be dropping by you little shithead.”_

 

 

Ichigo was released from the hospital two days later. He heard from Renji that apparently the woman who’d helped him had agreed to join forces with the Guard in tracking Aizen down.

She’d apparently had a reason to want him captured as well.

Ichigo did not bother listening that much, and his friends could tell it from his mournful, glazed expression.

The drive towards his home was quiet, and Rukia glances at the young man sitting at the passenger seat concerned.

”I did tell him, that men like him should go out with a bang, but this wasn’t what I meant.”

Ichigo comments softly after a moment, gazing out of the window.

Rukia hums, but says nothing to Ichigo’s comment, knowing her friend was talking to himself rather than her. They stop by a liquor store, as the man requests her to get him a bottle of sake again. She looks at him concerned, but decides to grant him the request. Given the fact her assumption of him becoming an alcoholic last time had been wrong; in all likeness Ichigo would not let it consume him this time either.

He just needed a stronger drink right now.

Rukia is unsure about leaving the man alone as he slumps against the kitchen table with his drink, gazing at the bottle in front of him. Knowing that Ichigo needed some time right now however she forces her parenting instinct aside, and heads out, deciding she’d come and check on him tomorrow morning. Ichigo stares at the glass he poured for himself for a long time, but doesn’t touch it.

Despite his mood, he did not want to drink it. It reminded him too much of the morning that had eventually led into this tragedy.

If he’d only chosen his words better.

Ichigo sighs and finally takes a sip from the glass, then frowns with disgust.

It was awful; he could not understand why his dad or Renji liked this stuff.

With a sigh, Ichigo decides to go and take a shower, hoping that the warm water would help lulling his aching mind and heart a little. Once he gets out of the shower, Ichigo tugs on a towel around his waist, just staring at his reflection with a dull look. Last time he’d been this sad was when his mother had passed away. Ichigo was not even sure why he felt so upset. Then again, he had not lost anybody he’d grown accustomed - or even close with - in a while. With a sigh, he pushes the bathroom door open, still drying his hair with a smaller towel.

Once he lifts his gaze however, he freezes.

”Coulda at least have chosen a better brand. Your taste is shit.”

Ichigo just stares at Grimmjow, who was sitting next to his table, examining the half-empty glass in his hand while his leg rested on top of his knee in a relaxed manner.

His hair was in a better shape than usual, combed back and not a messy fluff it had been while he’d been staying with Ichigo. There was a beanie hat on the table, and a bag at his feet. He also had a new, dark blue hoodie on that currently hung open.

Most of all, the fucker was _alive_.

Glancing aside, Ichigo noted that one of his windows was open, letting some of the cool evening air in his house. Grimmjow had probably entered from there.

He grins at Ichigo, who drops the towel he’d used to dry his hair in shock.

”Yo.”

Ichigo takes a step forward, and the man lifts eyebrow at him with an unimpressed expression.

”If you pounce at me, I will kick you in the crotch, with lightning.”

Ichigo doesn’t care as he marches at the man, and positively smacks him in the face, hard, making him stumble backwards with the chair. Grimmjow doesn’t get mad however, as he just laughs like a maniac, before jumping up and indeed kicking Ichigo in the crotch - though the zap was minimal by his standards - making him stumble to the floor as it hurt like a bitch.

”Good ta see some spunk back on ya. That melancholic puppy-face was unbearable.”

”Fuck...you...” Ichigo snarls up at him, and manages to scramble up eventually, still covering himself with the towel.

The man just lifts eyebrow at that with an amused grin.

”I’ve seen everything worth seeing already so that’s pretty pointless.”

”Some of us have some dignity.”

”Says a guy pouncing around naked in his house with a dangerous criminal in the same room.”

Grimmjow taunts him, and Ichigo huffs out a sigh, turning to head to his bedroom to get some clothes.

Before he can however, a strong arm grasps his wrist and Grimmjow tugs him closer, attacking his lips with a familiar ferocity that made Ichigo’s head spin. Completely forgetting about getting some damn clothes on, the fiery haired male wraps his arms tightly around Grimmjow’s neck and manages to bring his previously useless legs around the man’s waist too, as he presses Ichigo against the nearest wall.

The young man had never been so fucking pleased to be able to wrap his legs around someone like this.

They kiss and nip and bite each other for a while, until Grimmjow shifts back lightly letting Ichigo breathe. The towel was still between them, covering Ichigo somewhat, but he had a sneaking suspicion it would not remain there for long, given the predatory smirk the man was giving him. Ichigo felt tears prickling in his eyes again, but he swallowed them down, knowing the man would mock him about it.

“Don’t you _fucking_ do that to me, EVER again, you shithead.” Ichigo whispers at him furiously, and the man just smirks, nipping his mouth a little.

”I should be mad at you fer stealing my power.” He whispers, biting Ichigo’s jaw, then shifting up to his ear, making the orange haired male shudder as he felt the warm air brush against his skin.

”But given how I feel near fucking ecstatic right now thanks to you, I suppose you deserve a reward instead of a punishment.”

Ichigo snorts and turns his head to look at him. ”I’m pretty sure for you they are the same thing.”

Grimmjow laughs, the sound less of a manic cackle and more akin to a genuine amusement.

”Nah. Punishment would mean me throwing you out of the fucking window like this.”

The thought was so baffling and morbidly hilarious, that Ichigo could not stop himself from laughing at it, though he hoped the man would not actually do it.

”So what is a reward then?” Ichigo asks once his laughter dies down, and he nudges the man’s face with his nose.

Grimmjow just smirks at him and the next thing Ichigo knew, he was swung around and thrown against the couch, before Grimmjow climbed on top of him, devouring his mouth like before.

 

 

 

His body felt pleasantly sore now, and Ichigo rubs his neck from the spot Grimmjow had bit him pretty hard.

He was lying on his couch, still bare, with just his towel covering some of his lower body.

He’d tugged it there after Grimmjow had finally shifted off him - honestly, having him there for a brief while was comfy, but after a while the fucker began to feel damn heavy - and gone to take a shower.

As the man comes back, he looks at the way Ichigo had covered himself again amused, but says nothing for once.

Ichigo lets his gaze rake across the man’s form as he tugged on a shirt, and he was really happy to see there were no signs of the previous black markings. They were completely gone, just like Grimmjow’s aching. It had become obvious that he was no longer sick with overload, when he’d used his power excessively to try and knock Ichigo out with pleasure on top of his usual, undeniable skill.

He almost managed to do it, though the fiery haired male would never admit it.

”What are you going to do now?” Ichigo asks, and the man shrugs, grabbing the jacket Ichigo had been given by Rukia, tugging it into his bag. It felt a little strange Grimmjow wanted to keep it, though Ichigo had his suspicions, suspicions he would not voice out, for he valued his life.

”Harribel’s goons came ta me; apparently she figured I survived, so she wanted to ask me to be her secret informant or runner or whatever.”

Grimmjow did not sound exactly eager, but as he turns to look at Ichigo, he smirks.

”Basically, I’ll do the necessary shit she cannot, now that she’s under the Guard’s rule. It’s also pretty damn helpful when folk think you’re dead; I ain't gotta worry about somebody tryin' ta hunt me down in a while - not that it'd worry me in the first place.”

"Given what you did, I'm surprised she trusts you."  
The man shrugs, flashing Ichigo a lazy grin.  
"Harribel was always more forgiving out of 'em. besides she gets me with this. She did also say that if I'd go after innocents or weaklings like that again' she'll lop my head off." The man did not seem bothered by the prospect, which Ichigo hoped meant he'd keep that promise, and not that he did not care about Harribel's demand.

Grimmjow snorts as he sees Ichigo's frown, cracking his neck.  
"Relax; I really got no interest in pulling that shit right now, not when Harribel could ACTUALLY kick my ass again."

Ichigo still did not seem convinced, so Grimmjow walks to slump down on the couch again, and the younger male pretty much climbs into his lap now, wrapping his arms and legs around the man.

”Yer a needy lil shit.” The man comments amused at the speed Ichigo had come to him, but there was a warmer, softer tint to his voice as he wraps his arms loosely around Ichigo’s waist.

”I’m no fool, despite what you might think; I know that issues like that....they don’t go away with blink of an eye. I don't really want you going after Aizen for revenge like that again.” Ichigo comments quietly, placing his lips against the man’s cheek for a moment. Grimmjow remains quiet, just turns his head lightly to brush his mouth against Ichigo’s parted lips.

An action that was gentler compared to most of the things in this man.

”For fuck’s sake; if I’d know what a nagging housewife you are, I would not have bothered sleeping with you.”

Ichigo shifts back to glare at the man, but his expression melts as he sees the amused smile on the man’s lips. ”Don’t fret yer sorry ass over me. If I ever start feeling like shit again, I’ll just drop by and fuck you for few hours; that should do it.”

Ichigo rolls his eyes at the man’s crude choice of words, and pokes his forehead with a sharp finger, making the man flinch.

”I may not always be on the mood.”

”I seriously fucking doubt that, I didn’t even manage to sit down here and you were all over me like a horny tiger.”

The younger male huffs, but doesn’t even attempt to move away. He just presses their foreheads together, caressing the man’s cheek.

”Yeah. I suppose that would be nice. Just...don’t freak my friends out again, making them think I became an alcoholic or something.” Grimmjow snorts, but then presses his lips softly against Ichigo’s, making the younger male sigh pleased as he responded to it.

"Really, relax your pretty little head; I'm not a dumbass and know what fights to avoid." Grimmjow tells him with almost gentle tone, nuzzling his cheek for a bit.

"Somehow I doubt that."

Grimmjow snorts at him, rolling his eyes, before pushing Ichigo off him almost reluctantly and gets up, grabbing the bag he’d had with him, tugging it over his shoulder before tugging on the beanie hat to hide his vividly blue hair.

After he was done dressing up, the man walks back to Ichigo and presses a last, almost soft kiss to his mouth, before walking towards the open window he’d come in from.

”See ya around, Kurosaki.”

He glances over his shoulder with a smirk, before literally jumping out like the crazy bastard he was. Instead of crashing to the ground however, a blue light streaked across the sky, ending at the roof of a faraway building. Ichigo walks to the window and closes it, gazing out for a bit with a smile plastered on his lips.

”That damn bastard. He pops up, wrecks your shit, steals your heart and then leaves like the dick he is.”

Ichigo mutters, before turning around and getting finally some damn clothes on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. In the end, I managed to fit all of this into one chapter. However, I am tempted to give this a sequel, though I don't have any basic plot-structure in mind, so that may take a while.  
> Choosing elements for Harribel's fraccion was hard, as I decided to avoid thunder despite it fitting to at least two of them in my eyes. it is supposed to be a rare, Grimmjow-thing for this story.  
> Also, I figured not to involve Aizen further into the story as it wasn't really about him being the main villain anyway, that can be saved for a later date.  
> Also, chapter title is the story title, because it fit pretty well for this one.


End file.
